High-Level & Tank Waste

The Department of Energy has warned Washington state and Oregon that an additional set of Hanford Waste Treatment Plant milestones contained in a 2010 Consent Decree may now be at “serious risk” of being missed, a DOE official said late yesterday. The new at-risk milestones include a Dec. 31, 2017, commitment to complete “methods validations” […]

Two senators expressed concern yesterday over URS’ recent decision to lay off Walter Tamosaitis, a former contractor executive at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant who has alleged he has faced retaliation for raising safety concerns. In a letter to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) warned […]

While a Department of Energy review called for a new agreement by this week with contractor Parsons on commissioning and startup of the Salt Waste Processing Facility to avoid further impacts to the project, that “may not be a hard date,” a Parsons SWPF official said last week. DOE and Parsons reached a new agreement […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board can’t determine the potential safety implications of removing a portion of the liquid radioactive waste stored in a damaged double-shell tank at Hanford, the DNFSB told the Department of Energy late last week.  Tank AY-102 has been found to be leaking material into the space between the tank’s inner […]

Just one of six suspect single-shell tanks at Hanford is leaking waste into the ground, according to evaluations released Wednesday by the Department of Energy. However, the Washington State Department of Ecology does not agree with all of the conclusions reached by DOE and Washington River Protection Solutions. Both DOE and the state concur that […]

Paul Hirschman has been named the director of the Office of River Protection’s engineering division for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, leading the team responsible for the project design. He joined the Office of River Protection in 2006 and previously was a nuclear operator for the Navy and worked for private industry. Hirschman replaces Gary […]

The Savannah River Site’s latest update to its liquid waste system plan would not close all old-style tanks on site until 2028, six years beyond regulatory commitments to the state. The site’s previous plan, released in early 2012, would have all tanks closed by 2022, just in time to meet commitments to South Carolina. However, […]

The Department of Energy and Washington River Protection Solutions are rescheduling work to empty the remaining seven C-Farm tanks as DOE struggles to meet a consent decree deadline to have all C Farm tanks emptied by September 2014. DOE notified Washington state in June it might not have two of the tanks emptied by then.  […]

The Department of Energy is developing plans for the construction of a new facility at Hanford intended to aid efforts to address tank waste, Weapons Complex Monitor has learned. The new facility, dubbed "TWCS," (Tank Waste Characterization and Staging) is likely to be a significant component of DOE’s plans for finalizing the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, […]

Savannah River Site liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation Friday began grouting two more high level waste tanks at the site, following the successful closure of two other Savannah River tanks last year. SRR started filling tanks 5 and 6 with a cement-like grout last week, and aims to completely fill and operationally close the […]

Work could resume to empty waste from Hanford Tank C-101 in as little as a couple of weeks, unless a pump has to be replaced, Kevin Smith, Manager of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection, said Aug. 23. In the evening of Aug. 21, an “alert” was declared when workers discovered indications that […]

Cracks in one of the Savannah River Site’s saltstone disposal vaults led to radioactive release into the environment during heavy rains earlier this year, according to documents released yesterday. The saltstone vaults hold low level tank waste in a cement-like grout, but a cracked roof in Vault 4 led to radioactive contamination entering a sedimentation […]

In a move that could lead to cost and schedule impacts, Washington state environmental regulators are launching a thorough review of the permit for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The review was prompted by the number of “technical issues,” many of which are long-standing, that remain to be resolved at the WTP, such as concerns […]

Disposing of some tank waste from Hanford and Savannah River at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant could save costs, but the Department of Energy would have to first shift to a risk-informed basis for its waste disposal decisions, a DOE official said late last week. More than half of the budget for DOE’s Office of […]

Bechtel National earned slightly less than half of the fee available for its work at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant in the first half of this year, according to information the Department of Energy released yesterday. Out of an available $6.3 million, Bechtel National earned 49.6 percent, approximately $3.12 million. Bechtel National’s fee performance for […]

House lawmakers are looking for the Department of Energy to develop a detailed plan on how DOE will address tank waste at Hanford through 2025. Language calling for such a plan has been included in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2014 defense authorization bill, a full version of which was released yesterday ahead […]

Bechtel National suspended activities at some portions of the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant yesterday after the discovery of unexpected contaminated soil. Craft work was suspended at the WTP’s Pretreatment and High-Level Waste facilities after “low levels” of contaminated soil was found inside the HLW Facility, according to a message sent to employees. No “detectable levels […]

The Department of Energy has completed its implementation plan for improving flammable gas safety at the Hanford tank farms in response to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommendation. In January DOE accepted DNFSB’s recommendation Hanford Tank Farms Flammable Gas Safety Strategy 2012-2, which was issued last fall. It calls on DOE to move forward […]

After almost four years on the job, Frank Russo is stepping down as Bechtel National’s Project Manager for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, WC Monitor has learned. Russo’s departure is set to be formally announced in the next few days. Russo is Bechtel National’s longest serving project manager at the WTP, having came to the […]

After reaching an agreement-in-principle on completion of construction of the Salt Waste Processing Facility in April, the Department of Energy and contractor Parsons expect to finalize contract changes in the coming weeks, Savannah River Operations Office Deputy Manager Zack Smith said yesterday. “We are at an agreement in principle, some of the fine details are […]

The Department of Energy does not currently see a need to remove waste from one of Hanford’s double-shell tanks showing evidence of deterioration, though the Department is moving forward with preparations to be ready to empty the tank should conditions change. Late last week, DOE submitted to Washington state environmental regulators a pumping plan for […]

The Department of Energy and Parsons yesterday signed a long-awaited contract modification for construction of the Salt Waste Processing Facility. The modification largely follows an agreement-in-principle reached in April between the parties. DOE Savannah River Site spokeswoman Amy Caver said in a statement that the modification “caps American taxpayer liability and ensures this important project […]

New Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said yesterday that he hopes to have a revised plan for addressing tank waste at the Hanford site finalized this summer. In remarks to reporters on the sidelines of a conference held by the Energy Information Administration in Washington, Moniz said his June 19 trip to Hanford would serve […]

In the wake of the Department of Energy’s recent announcement that a damaged Hanford double-shell waste tank may now be leaking into the ground, Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) said late last week that he will be “insisting” that DOE accelerate its efforts to address all of Hanford’s aging waste tanks. Late on June 20, […]

Bechtel National officially announced yesterday that Peggy McCullough, as expected, will be taking over as the new Project Director for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, effective July 15. She replaces Frank Russo, who has led Bechtel’s efforts at the WTP since November 2009 and will be leaving  to take “take on a new assignment in […]

Efforts to bring 3.1 million gallons of Hanford sludge to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant suffered a major setback Monday with the New Mexico Environment Department’s decision to hold full-blown hearings on the issue. The Department of Energy had asked in March for a change to WIPP’s state permit as a “Class 2” permit modification, […]

Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions issued a request for expressions of interest late last week seeking companies that may be able to address tank waste considered to be transuranic material. The Department of Energy is looking to dispose of approximately 1.4 million gallons of waste in 11 of Hanford’s single-shell tanks considered […]

Further tests to determine whether Hanford double-shell Tank AY-102 is leaking waste into the soil have been inconclusive, the Department of Energy said late last week. DOE has known since at least October that underground Tank AY-102, which holds 857,000 gallons waste, has an apparently slow leak from its interior shell. But until a month […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection at Hanford is set to hold a two-day workshop early this week to assess cost saving ideas submitted by federal and contractor employees. The “Grand Challenge Workshop,” scheduled for July 22-23, is intended to have representatives from contractors and the national laboratories “assess a wide range of […]

More details have emerged on the agreement in principle struck between the Department of Energy and Salt Waste Processing Facility contractor Parsons on the path forward for completing construction of the plant. Both DOE and Parsons have thus far declined to provide details about the deal, but WC Monitor has determined that the two sides […]