Officials conducting a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine study of technology development within the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management will visit the Hanford Site area in Washington state today and Tuesday.
An hourlong overview of Hanford is planned for 7:30 a.m. today at the Red Lion Hotel Richland Hanford House, 802 George Washington Way in Richland, Wash. The committee and staff then will take a private tour of Hanford, returning for an open meeting to hear from cleanup site stakeholders from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. On Tuesday, four hours of technical briefings are planned starting at 7:30 a.m.
The committee conducting the assessment began meeting in November and in January visited DOE’s Savannah River Site area in South Carolina. It has two tasks. First. is assessing the processes by which technologies are identified and selected for development. Second, is assessing technologies or alternative cleanup approaches that could reduce long-term costs; accelerate schedules; mitigate uncertainties, vulnerabilities, or risks; or otherwise significantly improve the cleanup program.