The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site has submitted two permit modification requests to Washington State’s Department of Ecology that aim to speed cleanup and save funding, DOE said Monday.
According to DOE’s press release, DOE contractor Bechtel National Incorporated’s request would allow tank-side treated low-activity waste from Hanford’s AP-106 to be sent to the Effluent Management Facility. From there, it will be transported by tanker truck for disposal to a licensed commercial waste treatment facility.
The second permit modification request, involving DOE contractor Hanford Tank Waste Operations, would seek to enable tank-side treated waste from double-shell storage tank AP-106 to be relocated to the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP). At the facility, it will be vitrified or shipped offsite for disposal in grout and out-of-state disposal, DOE said.
A Washington State Department of Ecology spokesperson told the Exchange Monitor Tuesday that it has received the two permit request applications and will begin its review of them. There will be public comment periods for both requests conducted by DOE and its respective contractors and from that period the Department of Ecology will consider the public input to make an “appropriate, final permitting decision,” according to the spokesperson.
Additionally, a meeting will be held on Aug. 26 at 5:30 Pacific Time at Richland Public Library in Richland, Wash. to discuss the permit modification requests, DOE said.
“The people of Washington deserve an all-of-the-above approach,” DOE EM Chief Operating Officer David Brunnert said. “That includes proven glass and grout solutions that have been safely and successfully used for decades across DOE and around the globe.”
The two permit modification requests come a month after Tim Walsh, head of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, wrote a letter to the director of the Washington State Department of Ecology pushing for more urgency for the state to approve grouting some of the Hanford Site’s less-radioactive waste.
Director of Washington State Department of Ecology Casey Sixkiller told DOE in May that he is open to some grouting as long as they do not lose sight of converting Hanford’s liquid radioactive waste into a glass form at the WTP.