The National Nuclear Security Administration may look to the Department of Energy’s cleanup program for advice on how to minimize waste generation going forward, NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs Don Cook said last week. In remarks at this year’s Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum, Cook called for advice on ways to change processes to generate less waste and make the waste that is produced easier to remediate. “I am passionate about a few things. The very first one is waste minimization. I would love for it to be zero. I don’t think I’ll get my love but I want to get as close to zero as possible. The second thing I would like is where we are going to generate waste to find processes to make that waste less toxic if we can’t make it less voluminous.” he said.
As an example, Cook cited the need to find replacements, or improvements, for wet chemical processing, a technology that dates back to the early Cold War era. “I know we still do a fair portion of it, but I have to tell you I have to hate wet chemical processing. It leads to massive waste streams,” Cook told gathered industry officials. “I like things like electro refining, gaseous processing, other types of processing, but if I could have my dream then you and your community, you’ve got the knowledge. You’re just as technically astute as all the science stuff I showed you before. You know what the hard stuff is to clean up. First we’ve cleaned up the early easy stuff and then as you go on and on we get to the really hard stuff, you know what that means. The new generators of waste, the folks who are designing things and some of the folks who are manufacturing things, don’t have that experience. Some of the manufacturers do. If you could deliver on that challenge that would be important to the nation,” he said.