The Department of Energy and its Hanford tank waste contractor are preparing to begin retrieving radioactive and chemical waste from the site’s 25th single-shell tank, marking another milestone in the decades-long cleanup effort.
DOE’s Hanford Field Office and Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure are preparing to retrieve waste from Tank A-103 in the 200 East Area, according to a newsletter from the Office of Environmental Management. The tank contains approximately 385,000 gallons of primarily salt-based waste accumulated over decades.
Crews will use water to dissolve the waste before pumping it from the older, single-steel-lined tank into a newer double-shell tank, which provides an additional barrier against leaks. Retrieval activities are expected to proceed in phases into 2027, as space becomes available in the double-shell tank system.
“Every success we achieve in tank retrieval is more than a technical accomplishment — it’s a meaningful step toward reducing long-term environmental risk at Hanford,” Hanford Field Office Manager Ray Geimer said.
DOE said its “glass-plus-grout” approach will allow tank waste retrieval to continue while supporting treatment capacity. The department estimates the strategy could enable solidification of 3 million to 4 million gallons of tank waste annually and accelerate completion of 200 East Area tank waste from 2051 to 2039, potentially saving about $12 billion.
Following A-103, retrieval work will shift to Hanford’s 200 West Area. DOE and its contractor plan to begin retrieving waste from the first West Area single-shell tank by 2030 and complete retrieval from 22 tanks by 2040 using a grout-based approach agreed to by Washington state.
Hanford produced 74 tons of plutonium for the U.S. nuclear weapons program between 1944 and 1989. When production ended, 177 tanks held approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste. About 3.5 million gallons have been removed from 24 single-shell tanks to date.