High-Level & Tank Waste

With the promise of a reliable nitrogen supply apparently in hand, the Department of Energy is preparing to resume a final test run to demonstrate operations of a long-awaited plant to treat sodium-bearing radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory, according to a state official. “Warm up” of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) was […]

The Department of Energy’s latest best- and worst-case estimates for fully cleaning up the Hanford Site in Washington State were each several tens of billions of dollars lower than the previous estimate, though the calculation released this week does not fully include the cost of delays to the site’s crucial High-Level Waste Facility. The feds […]

In a milestone for U.S. nuclear-weapons cleanup in Washington State, the Department of Energy since Jan. 26 has prepared 50,000 gallons of liquid radioactive waste at the Hanford Site for solidification into stable, storable glass as soon as December 2023. By the end of the year, DOE and its contractors hope the new Tank Side […]

In a milestone for U.S. nuclear-weapons cleanup in Washington State, the Department of Energy since Jan. 26 has prepared 50,000 gallons of liquid radioactive waste at the Hanford Site for solidification into stable, storable glass as soon as December 2023. By the end of the year, DOE and its contractors hope the new Tank Side […]

A panel at the Department of Energy has authorized startup of the Tank-Side Cesium Removal project, according to the latest available weekly staff report on operations at the Hanford Site in Washington state from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.  “The DOE Startup Authorization Authority for the TSCR [Tank-Side Cesium Removal] system approved its startup,” […]

The Salt Waste Processing Facility, offline since late October at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, should resume operation within a couple of weeks, an executive with Parsons Corp., which built the plant told an advisory panel Tuesday. “We are shut down currently,” Mike Pittman, a Parsons vice president and project […]

The Salt Waste Processing Facility, offline since late October at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, should restart in a couple of weeks, an executive with Parsons Corp., which built the plant told an advisory panel Tuesday. “We are shut down currently,” Mike Pittman, a Parsons vice president and project manager […]

The liquid waste contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is seeking expressions of interest from firms that could build three new saltsone disposal units at the federal complex near the Georgia line. Amentum-led Savannah River Remediation (SRR) posted the notice Thursday on the government procurement website, SAM.gov for Saltstone […]

Savannah River Remediation, the outgoing, Amentum-led liquid waste contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, took home about $43.8 million, or 98%, of a potential $44.6 million fee during fiscal 2021, according to a scorecard released by the agency this week. Savannah River Remediation (SRR), which includes Amentum, Bechtel, Jacobs […]

The Department of Energy and its environmental management contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory hope to resume a test run of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit by the end of the month, an Idaho state official said Thursday. As of Tuesday Jan. 18, managers at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) envisioned having a nitrogen […]

Savannah River Remediation, the outgoing, Amentum-led liquid waste contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, took home about $43.8 million, or 98%, of a potential $44.6 million fee during fiscal 2021, according to a scorecard released by the agency this week. Savannah River Remediation (SRR), which includes Amentum, Bechtel, Jacobs […]

The Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site, offline since late October for a combination of an operational outage and technical safety concerns, could get back up by the end of this month, a Department of Energy spokesperson said Monday. The facility near Aiken, S.C remained in an outage early this week, following […]

Preparations for a 50-day test-run of a crucial liquid-waste treatment system at the Department of Energy’s Idaho site were cut short Christmas Eve because someone installed an open/closed indicator on the unit’s plumbing backwards, according to the site. The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU), designed to solidify some 850,000 gallons of sodium-bearing, radioactive waste leftover […]

The Tank-Side Cesium Removal project at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a key cog in the Department of Energy’s plan to begin bulk solidification of liquid radioactive waste there next year, could start up in January, according to a recent memo from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. “DOE Hanford is working with the […]

An ongoing federal study into alternative liquid-waste cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state should focus narrowly on finding the fastest way to get rid of low-level radioactive waste that can’t be solidified by the site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, a national academies panel recommended last week. The waste treatment plant, which is […]

The Tank-Side Cesium Removal project at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a key cog in the Department of Energy’s plan to begin bulk solidification of liquid radioactive waste there next year, could start up in January, according to a recent memo from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. “DOE Hanford is working with the […]

The Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site, offline since late October for a combination of an operational outage and technical safety concerns, could get back up by the end of this month, a Department of Energy spokesperson said Monday. In late November, the facility near Aiken, S.C., was already in an outage […]

What was shaping up to be a productive trial run of the long-delayed Integrated Waste Unit was cut short just after New Year’s, about a third of the way through its planned duration, because of weather-related supply-chain issues, a state official said Monday. The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) started its 50-day run, loaded with […]

Department of Energy management at the Hanford Site is not doing enough about a leak from a single-shell, high-level waste tank made public in April 2021, according to a Washington state lawmaker and some other members of the Hanford Advisory Board. Hanford bosses and the Washington state Department of Ecology lack a sense of urgency […]

In a development that could open the door for moving more federal radioactive waste to commercial disposal sites, the Department of Energy this week affirmed it would continue a 2019 that found certain less-risky high-level radioactive waste can be treated and disposed of as low-level waste. To that end, DOE on Wednesday issued a Federal […]

The top fed at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management expects the Tank-Side Cesium Removal project at the Hanford Site in Washington state to begin operating “within weeks.” Office of Environmental Management (EM) senior adviser William (Ike) White made the comment Monday during an online meeting of the chairs of the chairs of […]

A Department of Energy policy from 2019 that found certain less-risky high-level radioactive waste can be treated and disposed of as low-level waste was, on further review, upheld by Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, the agency said Thursday. To that end, DOE on Wednesday issued a Federal Register notice affirming that this altered interpretation of […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office could find out soon if the administration of President Joe Biden will back a second trial run moving certain high-level radioactive waste out of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and disposing of it in a facility licensed for low-level waste. That was the word Monday from […]

The top fed at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management expects the Tank-Side Cesium Removal project at the Hanford Site in Washington state to begin operating “within weeks.” Office of Environmental Management (EM) senior adviser William (Ike) White made the comment Monday during an online meeting of the chairs of the chairs of […]

Prospective bidders on the Department of Energy’s multibillion-dollar Hanford Integrated Tank Waste Disposition Contract in Washington state need not submit proposals before Christmas after all, thanks to an extension announced recently. The deadline for submitting bid proposals on the potential $45-billion contract is being extended by 17 days to Jan. 6, 2022, from Dec. 20, […]

Plutonium pits, tank waste and contractor oversight again topped the Department of Energy inspector general’s list of the agency’s biggest management challenge, according to the latest edition, released before Thanksgiving. The most recent in the rolling series of special reports, “Management Challenges at the Department of Energy,” also assigned the same top priority to DOE’s […]

Plutonium pits, tank waste and contractor oversight again topped the Department of Energy inspector general’s list of the agency’s biggest management challenge, according to the latest edition, released before Thanksgiving. The most recent in the rolling series of special reports, “Management Challenges at the Department of Energy,” also assigned the same top priority to DOE’s […]

The Department of Energy expects to issue a finding by July 2022 on the practicality of solidifying 2,000 gallons of tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington using concrete-like grout, federal officials said during an online public meeting Thursday. But before DOE issues the finding, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was expected to check […]

The Department of Energy does not expect a delay to a crucial cesium-removal demonstration at the Hanford Site’s tank farms, despite the discovery last month that parts of the system might be prone to leaks, an agency spokesperson said this week.  The “leak-tightness” issue, as the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board (DNFSB) called it in […]

Under current projections, the Department of Energy could process nearly all of the salt waste inventory from 43 high-level radioactive waste tanks at the Savannah River Site by 2033, the top official for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management there said recently. The 2033 date cited by Michael Budney, manager of the Savannah River Operations […]