The Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology will hold a public meeting June 17 on a proposed modular system at the Hanford Site’s 200 West Area to remove cesium from tank waste prior to grouting.
The hybrid meeting is set for June 17 at 5:30 p.m. PT in the Gallery Room of the Richland, Wash. Public Library. Information on how to join the meeting remotely can be found here.
The project is known as the West Area Risk Management (WARM) system. DOE’s BWXT-led prime Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C) are seeking expression of interest notice from interested vendors.
A key benefit of the system is quicker emptying of single-shell tanks by creating double-shell space. That aim is a key provision of the 2025 Holistic Agreement between the state and feds on Hanford cleanup, according to the DOE/Ecology notice.
DOE is expected to file a notice-of-intent application with Ecology this summer to build and operate the system.
“A 2023 Savannah River National Laboratory report estimated that developing and constructing an onsite grout facility may cost between $5 billion and $8.2 billion,” the Government Accountability Office said in a recent report.
DOE’s Hanford Field Office plans to solidify much of Hanford’s low-level liquid waste into a concrete-like grout as a supplement to vitrifying tank waste into glass at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, which began in October 2025.
In a House Appropriations hearing last month, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.,), whose district includes Hanford, said the state “does not want to grant a permit to DOE for additional supplemental grout treatment to work in tandem with vitrification.” The congressman also said Ecology has a “disinterest in approving additional permits.”
An Ecology spokesperson subsequently said the WARM pretreatment system was one of two grout-related permits that the state agency is working on.
“We are engaging on planned grouting of millions of gallons of low-activity tank waste from 22 single-shell tanks in the 200 West Area,” the Ecology spokesperson said. DOE is expected to tell Ecology by July 1 where it intends to do the actual grouting, the spokesperson said.
Eventual disposal would occur at either EnergySolutions in Utah and Waste Control Specialists in Texas.