High-Level & Tank Waste

The Department of Energy won’t meet a Sept. 30 commitment to begin operations at the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, a DOE spokesman said late last week. The milestone was included in DOE’s Site Treatment Plan for the Idaho site. “Start-up and testing activities at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, to verify that the facility […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/26/2014 After South Carolina and the Environmental Protection Agency denied a request from the Department of Energy to extend a Savannah River high-level waste tank closure milestone, DOE late last week invoked dispute resolution on the matter. Citing technical and funding issues, DOE in August requested an extension of the closure […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 9/26/2014 The Department of Energy notified the states of Washington and Oregon this week that a third Hanford waste tank is at serious risk of not being emptied by the deadline in the 2010 court-enforced consent decree. DOE is required to have the 16 tanks in the C Tank Farm emptied […]

Hanford’s 242-A Evaporator Restarts Operations WC Monitor 9/26/2014 Hanford’s 242-A Evaporator has restarted operations in recent weeks and in its latest campaign has reduced tank waste volume by an estimated 365,000 gallons. The evaporator is used to concentrate waste in Hanford’s double-shell tank farms to help increase available space, and will be used in multiple […]

Perma-Fix Looks to Add Evaporator System That Could Aid Hanford Cleanup WC Monitor 9/26/2014 Perma-Fix Northwest is proposing adding an evaporation system to its suite of systems used to treat and package waste at its Richland, Wash., plant near Hanford. The new system would be used to treat water contaminated with mixed low-level radioactive waste, […]

Staff Reports RW Monitor 9/26/2014 Perma-Fix Northwest is proposing adding an evaporation system to its suite of systems used to treat and package waste at its Richland plant near Hanford. The new system would be used to treat water contaminated with mixed low-level radioactive waste, which could include metals and organics. “It could come from […]

The Department of Energy notified the states of Washington and Oregon this week that a third Hanford waste tank is at serious risk of not being emptied by the deadline in the 2010 court-enforced consent decree. DOE is required to have the 16 tanks in the C Tank Farm emptied by Sept. 30. “Ecology is […]

After South Carolina and the Environmental Protection Agency denied a request to extend a Savannah River high level waste tank closure milestone, the Department of Energy late last week invoked dispute resolution on the matter. Citing technical and funding issues, DOE in August requested an extension of the closure dates for Tanks 12H and 16H […]

South Carolina: ‘Treatment Delay Is Unacceptable’ Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/19/2014 The Department of Energy has approved a new baseline for the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility that includes a nearly $1 billion cost increase from previous official estimates and pushes back plant startup by as much as five years. The baseline change […]

DOE Submits Plan to DNFSB to Upgrade Tank Farm Ventilation WC Monitor 9/19/2014 The Department of Energy has submitted reports on upgrading ventilation for Hanford’s double-shell tanks and new examination technologies in response to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommendation on flammable gas safety at the tank farms. “This report proposes using portable exhausters […]

The Department of Energy has approved a new baseline for Savannah River’s Salt Waste Processing Facility that would put the total project cost at $2.3 billion with a startup by early 2021, DOE said yesterday. That is nearly $1 billion more than the previous baseline, which aimed to complete startup before an October 2015 regulatory […]

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board will meet in late October in Augusta, Ga. to discuss the Department of Energy’s handling of High-Level Nuclear Waste and Spent Nuclear, the NWTRB announced late last week. The Oct. 29 meeting will focus mainly on DOE activities at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. “Topics that will […]

Schedule Slips in DOE Plan for Flammable Gas Safety at Tank Farms WC Monitor 9/12/2014 The Department of Energy’s schedule has slipped for completion of several aspects of a plan responding to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommendation on flammable gas safety at the Hanford tank farms. The DNFSB’s 2012 recommendation, Hanford Tank Farms […]

Design Review Finds Vulnerabilities At a Number of Facility Systems Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/12/2014 In a significant step forward toward completing one of the main portions of the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, Bechtel National has received approval to resume “full production engineering” at the vit plant’s High-Level Waste Facility. As a result, Bechtel National […]

Move Could Send Issue to Federal Court Staff Reports WC Monitor 9/12/2014 Hanford is a step closer to possibly having a federal judge make key cleanup decisions, after the state of Washington said late last week that it would not extend a deadline for discussions on proposals to modify a 2010 consent decree that governs […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/12/2014 Moving ahead in its procurement for a follow-on contract for receipt, handling and treatment of low-level and mixed low-level waste, the Department of Energy plans to release a request for proposals within 30 to 60 days. The current set of Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contracts for waste treatment services ends in […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 09/12/2014 Moving ahead in its procurement for a follow-on contract for receipt, handling and treatment of low-level and mixed low-level waste, the Department of Energy plans to release a request for proposals within 30 to 60 days. The current set of Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contracts for waste treatment services ends in […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/12/2014 Enresa, the public company charged with dealing with Spain’s high level nuclear waste, put out a tender late last week for construction of its Centralized Temporary Storage of Villar de Cañas (Cuenca). The procurement calls for a maximum bidding amount of approximately $218 million euro ($282 million U.S. dollars) […]

Bechtel National has received approval to resume “full production engineering” at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant’s High-Level Waste Facility, according to a letter Weapons Complex Monitor obtained yesterday. The move allows Bechtel National “to resume all engineering work necessary to finalize the design” of the HLW Facility, as well as to proceed with “limited procurement and […]

Moving ahead in its procurement for a follow-on contract for receipt, handling and treatment of low-level and mixed low-level waste, the Department of Energy plans to release a request for proposals within 30 to 60 days. The current set of Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contracts for waste treatment services ends in June 2015. DOE intends to […]

Enresa, the public company charged with dealing with Spain’s high level nuclear waste, put out a tender late last week for construction of its Centralized Temporary Storage of Villar de Cañas (Cuenca). The procurement calls for a maximum bidding amount of approximately $218 million euro ($282 million U.S. dollars) over a period of 58 months […]

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced late last week that he will not extend a deadline requiring continued dispute resolution with the Department of Energy over changes to Hanford’s 2010 court-enforced consent decree. DOE and the state had agreed not to ask a court to intervene on the consent decree at least through Sept. 5 while […]

DOE Considering Request for WTP LAW Facility Design Change  WC Monitor 9/5/2014 In a decision that could have significant schedule impacts for one of the main facilities to make up the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, the Department of Energy is considering a request from contractor Bechtel National to move forward with a new safety system […]

New DOE Idaho Cleanup Chief Says ‘Iterative’ Approach Underway for Facility Startup Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/5/2014 With the schedule for the start of waste processing at the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit still uncertain, the Department of Energy has informed Idaho regulators that it won’t meet a commitment to have all of the remaining […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/5/2014 In a move that could lead to fines for the Department of Energy, South Carolina and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rejected late last week DOE’s request for a five-month extension for the closure dates for two high-level waste tanks at the Savannah River Site. After DOE cut requested funds […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is also opposing the Department of Energy’s request to extend the closure milestones for two Savannah River high level waste tanks by 15 months, instead suggesting separate 30-day and seven-month extensions to close the tanks. DOE has requested an extension of the closure dates for Tanks 12H and 16H from […]

With the schedule for the start of waste processing at the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit still uncertain, the Department of Energy has informed Idaho regulators that it won’t meet a commitment to have all of the remaining liquid waste at the Idaho site treated by the end of this year. “The state of Idaho […]

In a move that could lead to fines for the Department of Energy, South Carolina on Friday rejected the Department’s request to extend the closure dates for two high level waste tanks at the Savannah River Site. After DOE cut requested funds for Savannah River tank closure, South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 8/29/2014 With the latest round of talks between the Department of Energy and Washington state on a new path forward for the cleanup of Hanford’s tank waste set to come to an end next week, DOE is believed to be leaning toward accepting—at least in some small part—the state’s call for […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 8/29/2014 As the Department of Energy continues to struggle to get into operation the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, the Department appears to be planning for the facility to still be in operation in late 2015—almost a year beyond a current commitment to the state of Idaho to have all of […]