High-Level & Tank Waste

Hanford Site officials are investigating the possibility that a second double-shell tank at the Department of Energy facility may have a leak between its shells after unexpected radiation readings from the ventilation system of Tank AY-101’s annulus. However, results of a video inspection conducted in response to the readings showed no difference in the appearance […]

Washington River Protection Solutions workers were able to retrieve another 5,500 gallons of waste from Hanford Tank AY-102 over the weekend, although they had to also pump out waste between its shells several times. WRPS was making good progress in retrieving 151,000 gallons of sludge from the tank because it had a fairly slow leak […]

The Department of Energy still expects to finalize a contract modification this year that will allow the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) to begin treating low-level waste at the Hanford Site near Richland, Wash., by 2022, according to the agency’s top nuclear cleanup official. “The rebaseline will be done by the end of the fiscal year,” […]

The second melter at the Savannah River Site’s (SRS) Defense Waste Processing Facility has now processed twice as much radioactive waste as the plant’s now-retired first melter, according to a press release issued Monday. The facility just over two decades ago began converting high-level radioactive waste stored at the Department of Energy facility in South […]

Retrieval of waste from the Hanford Site’s oldest double-shell tank resumed Thursday after workers gained some control over the internal leak in the container. As waste was being retrieved from Tank AY-102 early Sunday morning an alarm sounded, indicating the rate of leakage within the tank had increased dramatically. The decades-old tank was being emptied […]

The level of radioactive waste in the space between the shells of Hanford Site double-shell Tank AY-102 remained stable Tuesday as Washington River Protection Solutions continued to prepare to pump the waste back into the tank. As waste was being retrieved from the tank Sunday the space between the shells, called the annulus, filled with […]

A major leak of radioactive waste from the inner shell of Hanford Site double-shell Tank AY-102 into the space between the shells was detected this weekend as sludge was being retrieved from the tank. An alarm for a level detector in the space between the shells, called the annulus, sounded early Sunday morning. Retrieval work […]

The second melter at the Savannah River Site’s (SRS) Defense Waste Processing Facility has now processed twice as much radioactive waste as the plant’s now-retired first melter, according to a press release issued Monday. The facility just over two decades ago began converting high-level radioactive waste stored at the Department of Energy facility in South […]

Bechtel National of San Francisco earned $8.3 million in award fees from the Energy Department for its work last year on the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site near Richland, Wash. — two-thirds of the total possible award, according to a document DOE’s Office of River Protection (ORP) published Monday. Most of the money […]

Parsons said April 8 the Salt Waste Processing Facility it is building at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., received a Secretarial Department of Energy Award for Project Management Improvement on March 23. The award cites the project team’s innovative practices, which “positioned the project for the completion of construction activities ahead of the target date […]

Bechtel National of San Francisco earned $8.3 million in award fees from the Energy Department for its work last year on the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site near Richland, Wash. — two-thirds of the total possible award, according to a document DOE’s Office of River Protection (ORP) published Monday. Most of the money […]

Parsons said Friday the Salt Waste Processing Facility it is building at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., received a Secretarial Department of Energy Award for Project Management Improvement on March 23. The award cites the project team’s innovative practices, which “positioned the project for the completion of construction activities ahead of the target date […]

Washington Closure Hanford has begun removing waste from vertically buried pipes at Hanford for the first time. Just two Hanford burial grounds, 618-10 and 618-11, used the disposal method for the pipes, called vertical pipe units. The two were saved as the last burial grounds in the river corridor for remediation because they were expected […]

Washington River Protection Solutions had removed well over a third of the sludge in the Hanford Site double-shell tank with an interior leak by midday Thursday. About 61,000 gallons of radioactive sludge had been retrieved, with an estimated 90,000 gallons remaining. Sludge retrieval got off to a slow start last month, with the Department of […]

Discussions over missed deadlines and penalties at the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) have been held since November, even though the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) said in December that talks were expected to wrap up in January. Construction of the facility is expected to be completed next […]

Discussions over missed deadlines and penalties at the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) have been held since November, even though the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) said in December that talks were expected to wrap up in January. Construction of the facility is expected to be completed next […]

Washington Closure Hanford has begun removing waste from vertically buried pipes at the Hanford Site in Washington state for the first time. Just two Hanford burial grounds, 618-10 and 618-11, used the disposal method, called vertical pipe units. The two were saved as the last burial grounds in the river corridor for remediation because they […]

The Department of Energy has yet to post a 2015 award fee scorecard for its prime contractor on the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) now under construction by Bechtel National at the Hanford Site, a former plutonium production facility near Richland, Wash. Award fee determination scorecards are public-facing appraisals of a contractor’s performance at a DOE […]

Bechtel National has flipped its lid — a 28-ton melter lid for the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant’s Low-Activity Waste Facility (LAW). The lid, for one of the facility’s melters, had been upside down to allow for placement of the refractory, a cement-like insulation. To turn the lid right side up without damaging it, a […]

Officials with the Energy Department and Washington state will discuss their public communication plan for the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) on April 13-14 at the next public meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board, according to a notice published Thursday in the Federal Register. The DOE-chartered group also will host, among others, a presentation […]

A system used for liquid waste cleanup at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site (SRS) has sprung a leak and, if it cannot be repaired, will take years to replace, according to weekly site reports from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). SRS prime liquid cleanup contractor Savannah River Remediation discovered the leak in […]

A system used for liquid waste cleanup at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site (SRS) has sprung a leak and, if it cannot be repaired, will take years to replace, according to weekly site reports from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). SRS prime cleanup contractor Savannah River Remediation discovered the leak in the 3H Evaporator […]

The month of March marks the 20th anniversary of turning high-level liquid radioactive waste into more safely storable glass tubes at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., the agency said Monday. The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), a vitrification plant that mixes liquid waste with molten glass, started piping in waste on March […]

The Energy Department’s top nuclear cleanup official on Tuesday warned lawmakers of soaring remediation costs in Washington state, and faced tough questions about the agency’s plan to find more bill payers for uranium enrichment cleanup in Kentucky and Ohio. The bombshell about escalating cleanup costs at DOE’s Hanford Site near Richland, Wash. — long foreseen but little discussed […]

Bechtel National has begun pouring the concrete basemat for a new facility that will do some of the work of the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant’s Pretreatment Facility a decade before it is expected to be operating. To start vitrifying low-activity waste at the Waste Treatment Plant as soon as 2022, the new Effluent Management […]

A facility designed to process 56 million gallons of radioactive liquid waste stored near Richland, Wash., is going to cost far more than the $12.3 billion the Energy Department thought, DOE’s top nuclear cleanup official said Tuesday in a House budget hearing. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) prodded the news out of Monica Regalbuto, DOE’s assistant secretary for […]

A federal judge has set new consent decree milestones for tank waste management and treatment at the Hanford Site, extending the deadline to have the Waste Treatment Plant fully operating by 14 years to 2036. The order also sets milestones for emptying waste from the 11 tanks under the consent decree that still hold waste […]

PHOENIX — The Energy Department has almost finished tweaking an $11.4-billion contract with Bechtel National that will officially clear the San Francisco-based company to modify the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) to begin treating low-level nuclear waste by 2022. Conceived more than 15 years ago to turn some 56 million gallons of chemical and radioactive […]

The Energy Department has almost finished tweaking an $11.4-billion contract with Bechtel National that will officially clear the San Francisco-based company to modify the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) to begin treating low-level nuclear waste by 2022. Conceived more than 15 years ago to turn some 56 million gallons of chemical and radioactive waste […]

In a Wednesday afternoon panel discussion, government and industry representatives will discuss high-level waste cleanup at the Savannah River and Hanford sites: projects anointed as top priorities across the Energy Department’s weapons complex in the White House’s fiscal 2017 budget request. The jumping-off point of the discussion, scheduled for 1:30 p.m to 3:10 p.m. in […]