Remaining Cleanup Costs at Hanford Total Approx. $110 Billion
WC Monitor
2/27/2015
An estimated $110.2 billion is needed to complete the remaining cleanup at Hanford, plus some post-cleanup oversight, according to the fifth annual lifecycle report since they became an annual requirement added to the Tri-Party Agreement in 2010. The price tag is down from $113.6 billion a year ago, with spending of more than $2 billion since then. If the estimated remaining costs for the plant were spread evenly among everyone living in the United States today, each person would have to pay about $345 over the next 75 years. The estimated remaining cleanup cost is based on completing most cleanup work in 2060 and then long-term stewardship until 2090. Long-term stewardship would cost $4.8 million.
The Tri-Party Agreement requires the report to be based on completing work to meet all of its regulatory and cleanup obligations and deadlines, which can result in some unrealistic annual budget projections. In recent years, the Hanford budget has been a little more than $2 billion and large increases seem unlikely given the federal budget climate. The Obama administration has submitted a budget request to Congress for fiscal 2016 of $2.3 billion. But the lifecycle cost report, issued this week, projects budgets of more than $3 billion from fiscal 2016 through fiscal 2020 and again in fiscal 2036 and fiscal 2043. The fiscal 2019 budget would top $4 billion. Spending would start to drop below $2 billion in about 2046 and below $1 billion in 2049.
Drop in Cost Tied to Changed Projections, Cleanup Progress
The reduction in total cost over the past year to an estimated $110.2 billion is due to some changed projections, in addition to progress on cleanup since the 2014 Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost Report was issued. The cost estimate for community and regulatory support has been dropped by $788 million based on recent spending. Infrastructure and services costs have been revised downward by $2.8 billion, although some of those savings come from redistributing some costs to other budget categories.
Among the increases are an additional $1.3 billion for central Hanford cleanup and an additional $113 million for removing sludge from the K West Basin. Groundwater and deep soil cleanup cost estimates have increased $432 million. Many decisions on how to clean up Hanford remain to be made. For those projects, the report is required to make a plausible, upper-range estimate. Some estimates are based on projected costs that are expected to change. DOE has said the costs for the Waste Treatment Plant are likely to increase as technical issues are resolved, but a new baseline has not been calculated to include in the latest lifecycle report. The plan also does not reflect changes that may be ordered by a federal court as the 2010 court-enforced consent decree is revised.
Reports Have Come Under Criticism
The Hanford Advisory Board has criticized the reports for unrealistic assumptions that do not take into account escalating costs caused by budgets lower than those used in the reports. Unrealistic annual budget figures could extend cleanup work 20 to 30 years beyond projections in lifecycle reports, the board said in June. It took issue with the assumption in last year’s report, also included in this year’s report, that all 28 of Hanford’s double-shell tanks will remain fully operational for the 40 years projected for vitrification plant operations. The oldest of the 28 tanks already has waste leaking from its inner shell. The board also advised DOE and its regulators in June to consider whether issuing the report annually is needed when DOE’s master plan for Hanford cleanup has not changed.
Wash. Closure Completes Work at 300 Area Liquid Waste Systems
WC Monitor
2/27/2015
Washington Closure Hanford workers have finished removing or at least stabilizing some of the most radioactive waste in Hanford’s 300 Area, two liquid waste systems. It was the last high-hazard work to be done in the 300 Area, except for the postponed cleanup of the 324 Building and the high-level radioactive waste spill discovered beneath it. The work just finished was on a network of underground pipes that carried liquids contaminated with chemical and radiological waste from seven laboratories to the 340 Vault near the Columbia River. From there it was trucked or shipped by rail for storage in central Hanford’s underground waste tanks.
More than 180 structures in the 300 Area have been torn down, allowing workers access to the contaminated piping. They spent 10 months, working through the summer heat protected by respirators and double sets of protective clothing, to stabilize the piping with grout or epoxy and then remove much of it from the ground. “The grouting was difficult,” said Eric Ison, the lead project engineer for the radiological liquid waste system cleanup. The piping was highly radioactive and work had to be done in glove bags, including lifting equipment that weighed as much as 30 pounds.
Workers Found Damaged Pipes, Pipes in Wrong Locations
Work started with digging eight- to-12 feet down to reach the piping, being careful not to break it, Ison said. Workers found damaged pipes and pipes that were not where drawings indicated they should be. They set up glove bags within frames of PVC pipes in 70 places to prepare for work to stabilize the underground spiderweb of stainless steel piping. One end of each pipe was vented, and grout or epoxy was pushed through the other end to fill the pipe and stabilize contamination. Grout was difficult to push through the smallest of the 2-inch to 12-inch diameter piping, so epoxy was used for them. It hardened to a material like a bouncy ball that does not shatter when the pipes are cut, Ison said.
Once the pipes were filled, heavy equipment was used to lift sections out of the ground. The sections were trucked to the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility in central Hanford. Union workers helped plan the work and came up with techniques to reduce radioactive exposure to as little as possible, said Dan Elkins, the 300 Area project manager for Washington Closure.
Work Cost Approximately $2.4 Million
Two sets of pipelines leading to the 340 Vault were removed. One set of pipes, now called the Retired Radiological Liquid Waste System, was used from the 1950s until the 1970s, when leaks were discovered. Then all but the newest portion of the system was replaced with another liquid waste system. It was used into the mid ’90s, Elkins said. “We have removed anything we can,” Ison said, but some of the work will be deferred until two of the few remaining buildings in the 300 Area are ready to be demolished. Piping was left near the Radiochemical Processing Laboratory, which Pacific Northwest National Laboratory continues to use, and the 324 Building, which will not be torn down until the spill beneath it is cleaned up. Some piping too near underground utilities that serve the two buildings also was stabilized and left in the ground.
Nearly a mile of linear piping in the newest liquid waste system was removed, leaving about 2,000 linear feet. Workers took out 3,360 feet of the older pipe line, leaving about 1,720 feet. The work from planning to disposal cost about $2.4 million. Subcontractor Columbia Engineering and Environmental Services helped with the design of the grouting system. The 340 Vault, weighing 1,100 tons, was lifted out of the ground near the river and taken to central Hanford for disposal a year ago. “The main reason we do what we do is to keep the river clean,” Elkins said. The remaining trenches where piping was removed could be filled by early fall in time for revegetation over the winter. In addition to the 324 Building site, about 10 waste sites remain to be cleaned up in the 300 Area, but none of the 10 have the hazards of the radiological liquid waste systems, said Mark French, Department of Energy director for river corridor cleanup. Some of the waste sites have leaked or spilled diesel oil or oil contaminated with PCBs from transformers.