The Washington state Department of Ecology Monday officially launched its 120-day public comment period on Revision 9A to the Department of Energy’s sitewide permit for the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash.
In an online notice, the state regulator said the sitewide permit is one of its key tools for monitoring the “treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous and radioactive waste” from the roughly 580-square mile site the federal government used for decades to produce plutonium for national defense.
The comment period remains open until Oct. 27. The permit seeks to implement provisions of the Tri-Party Agreement between the state, DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which was first signed in 1989. The agreement lays out guidelines for remediation of the nuclear site.
On July 22, Ecology will start a series of online “lunch and learn” sessions at noon Pacific Time on Wednesdays about the contents of this latest revision. The July 22 session will walk stakeholders through the structure of the latest permit revision, Ecology said in the online notice.
Based on the last permit revision more than a decade ago, Ecology could receive thousands of comments from local governments, area residents, tribal nations and various other stakeholders.