The state of Washington and the federal government have agreed to give the Department of Energy another six months to decide where to grout millions of gallons of less-radioactive tank waste from the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash.
DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington state Department of Ecology have agreed the new deadline will be July 1, 2026, a state spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. The prior deadline was Dec. 31, 2025.
The extension was first reported Wednesday by the Tri-City Herald newspaper.
“This extension will allow Energy more decision-making time on the location of a grouting facility so that Ecology can support future permitting actions needed for onsite waste management activities,” Ecology said in a statement emailed to Exchange Monitor.
DOE plans to extract nuclear waste from 22 underground tanks in Hanford’s 200 West Area by 2040. “The low-activity portion of this waste will be encapsulated in a concrete-like mixture called grout and disposed of at offsite disposal facilities outside of Washington State,” Ecology said in its statement.
DOE has picked the EnergySolutions site in Utah and the Waste Control Specialists site in West Texas as locations where the grouted waste will go for ultimate disposal.
Last month, the tank waste contractor, BWX Technologies-led Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure LLC (H2C) sought proposals from subcontractors for solidifying waste into grout. In spring 2025, Hanford DOE did a test where 2,000 gallons of waste were sent to EnergySolutions and Waste Control Specialists for disposal. 1,000 gallons went to each site.
There are roughly 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous waste left over from decades of plutonium production at Hanford and currently being held in underground tanks. The Bechtel-built Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at Hanford started converting some of the less radioactive waste to glass form in October.
All of Hanford’s high-level waste is expected to be converted to glass at WTP starting in 2033.
But DOE views grout as a cheaper alternative for as much as 30 million gallons of the less radioactive waste. Elected officials in Oregon and Spokane, Wash., have urged DOE to solidify the waste into grout before it leaves the Richland area.