DOE APPEALS ORDER TO PUMP DAMAGED HANFORD TANK

The Department of Energy has filed an appeal to halt the Washington State Department of Ecology order requiring it to begin emptying liquid waste from Hanford’s double-shell Tank AY-102 by Sept 1. The appeal was filed with the State Pollution Control Hearing Board. DOE is concerned that the risk of pumping waste outweighs the benefits. Although the tank is leaking waste from its inner shell, the waste is contained in the tank’s annulus. Not only could starting to pump waste soon create unsafe nuclear conditions by removing liquid that helps cool sludge, but it diverts resources from work to retrieve waste from single-shell tanks, it said. Emptying Tank AY-102 also would reduce the remaining space available in Hanford’s 27 other double-shell tanks, it said.

The state has argued that DOE has not moved quickly enough to empty the tank, increasing the risk it could leak into the ground or that leaking waste could clog a ventilation system within the tank. State regulations require DOE to begin removing the waste as soon as possible. That is what DOE is proposing to do, but in a way that ensures safe handling of the nuclear material in the tank, DOE said in the appeal. The state has overstepped its authority by requiring actions that conflict with the safe handling of nuclear materials, according to the DOE appeal. DOE also argued that the state order has many ambiguous statements, preventing DOE from fully understanding it. DOE has proposed starting to install infrastructure to remove sludge along with liquid waste from the tank, but pumping no waste sooner than March 2016.