The BWX Technologies-led joint venture in charge of liquid waste cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is seeking subcontractors to solidify much of the less-radioactive waste into a concrete-like grout.
In a Dec. 9 solicitation, Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure LLC (H2C) sought proposals for grouting and disposal of 24 million gallons of the site’s tank waste.
The deadline for proposals is before noon, Pacific Time on Feb 23, 2026. The DOE contractor envisions grouting would begin in 2028.
A pre-proposal conference was being held via Microsoft Teams this Thursday Dec. 18 at 10 a.m. PT. Interested vendors should send an “intent to propose notification” by Dec. 30, according to the online notice. Questions about the solicitation are due before noon Pacific Time on Wednesday, Jan. 14.
Bryan Tinnin is the DOE procurement representative and can be emailed at Bryan_W_Tinnin@rl.gov.
Hanford has 56 million gallons of radioactive wastes in 177 leak-prone underground tanks. The site’s master plan has been to build facilities to convert those wastes into a glass form.
The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), built by Bechtel National, finally came online in October. Low-level radioactive waste accounts for the vast majority of the volume of the waste being held in the underground tanks.
But the WTP is only expected to be able to vitrify somewhere between 40% and 50% of the tank wastes. Research by DOE and the National Academies of Science have suggested grouting much of the less-radioactive waste would be a less expensive alternative to building a second vitrification plant.
Earlier this year, DOE oversaw a test where 2,000 gallons of Hanford sludge waste was grouted and subsequently disposed of at two sites, the EnergySolutions site in Utah and the Waste Control Specialists site in West Texas.
“This solicitation arises from the need for ongoing waste treatment and disposal of liquid mixed low-level pretreated tank waste (PTW) over an extended period,” according to materials accompanying the request for proposal. A master agreement “will employ a performance-based structure that will pay for results, specifically the gallons of waste disposed, at a fixed price per gallon.” H2C estimates a quantity of 24 million gallons to a maximum of 50,000,000 gallons of pretreated tank waste.