The Department of Energy has acknowledged that contractor Bechtel National has met all of the criteria required to resume construction on parts of the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant’s High-Level Waste Facility that have been on hold since 2012. However, DOE also pointed out in a statement Friday that its focus is on preparing to treat low-activity radioactive waste at the plant first.
Then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu in 2012 halted construction at the plant’s Pretreatment Facility and part of the High-Level Waste Facility until technical issues were resolved. In 2014, Bechtel was cleared to resume full production engineering to complete design of the High-Level Waste Facility. The recent finishing of a Preliminary Document Safety Analysis for the High Level Waste (HLW) Facility completes the criteria set by DOE for also resuming both procurement and construction at the facility
A Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staff report made public last week said that while the criteria had been met for resuming construction at the High-Level Waste Facility, “HLW activities will be constrained in the near term by competing priorities.”
The Energy Department faces a federal-court milestone to start vitrifying Hanford’s low-activity radioactive waste at the Waste Treatment Plant by 2023. All facilities, including the Pretreatment Facility and High-Level Waste Facility, are not required to be operational until 2036. Construction at the Pretreatment Facility remains suspended as work continues to resolve nine technical issues, which could be completed by the end of the year, according to DOE.
