FORMER NRC CHAIRMAN URGES DOE TO MOVE FORWARD WITH HANFORD VIT PLANT

A former chariman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is calling on the Department of Energy to move forward “expeditiously” with developing and implementing a path forward for completing the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. In a letter sent yesterday to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, former NRC Chairman Nils Diaz decried what he described as “a lack of consistent decision-making” on the WTP that has “impeded” its completion and the ultimate treatment of Hanford’s tank waste. “Nowhere has lack of effective decision-making been more apparent than at the long-delayed WTP,“ wrote Diaz, who also was part of a team commissioned by WTP contractor Bechtel National in 2011 to examine the safety culture at the project. “WTP has been frequently described as one of the most important and largest public works projects in the history of the U.S., yet it languishes because focus on prioritization of the overall safety issues has become obscured by a laundry list of technical and management decisions, that have caused multiple changes in design and direction, which are then compounded by funding problems, which then create more changes and delays, which… We could spend another generation arguing about it and its cost, allowing the risk to the people and the Nation to escalate further,” Diaz wrote.

Diaz highlighted DOE’s new efforts to address and resolve the lingering technical issues that have hindered the completion of the Hanford vit plant. “So, a new and better plan is being formulated with urgency. It will not be perfect, yet overall safety will be actively managed by an operating WTP, and potential hazards will be diminishing,” he wrote. “The plan should be expeditiously approved and implemented, funded, and fully supported to completion, without further delay. Your leadership in assuring that continuing progress is made by your successor is critical.” Diaz added, “We need a sustained call to action to remove the Hanford wastes hazard and an operating WTP is the only viable solution. We know how to come together as a nation to prevent and respond to catastrophes. Acting decisively now to eliminate the challenge of the Hanford waste is the right thing to do.”