After holding up the project two years, the Department of Energy will start developing an environmental assessment in July for a 2,000-gallon test of the Test Bed Initiative that involves grouting and out-of-state disposal of low-activity tank waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state.
DOE’s site manager for Hanford, Brian Vance, told the Washington state Department of Ecology in a Friday letter his agency will launch an assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). “This NEPA review is being done in conjunction with a Waste Incidental to Reprocessing determination involving the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” Vance wrote.
The assessment will consider potential environmental impact of retrieving and treating 2,000 gallons of low-activity waste and placing it into a form suitable for grouting and out-of-state disposal, DOE said in materials circulated to Hanford employees.
“Tank waste treatment is a high priority for the State and Ecology is pleased that DOE is providing the public with the opportunity to comment on the draft EA [environmental assessment],” said Ecology’s nuclear waste program manager David Bowen in an email statement Tuesday. “We look forward to a public meeting during the public comment period for the EA, and Ecology would expect to be present to answer any questions directed to us.”
DOE kicked off the initiative in 2017 when three gallons of waste were treated at Hanford’s 222-S Lab and grouted at the Perma-Fix Environmental Services Northwest plant in Washington state before being shipped to Waste Control Specialists in Texas for disposal, the agency said.
In 2018 DOE started planning the 2,000-gallon demonstration before withdrawing its state application in June 2019 as state and federal officials prepared for broad “holistic” discussions on tank waste and cleanup at Hanford. These talks have continued into 2021.
The Test Bed Initiative, which requires a state research, design and development permit, will not affect plans to start converting low-activity tank waste into glass at the Waste Treatment Plant by the end of 2023, DOE said.
But research by the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina and a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel have said the Waste Treatment Plant likely cannot vitrify all low-activity waste at Hanford and grouting might offer a lower-cost alternative for the remaining low-activity waste.
There are 56 million gallons of radioactive waste in underground tanks left over from Hanford’s days as a producer of plutonium.
The DOE fiscal 2020 budget included $10 million for the Test Bed Initiative and there is $7 million in the White House’s fiscal 2022 budget request, the agency said.
