Registration will open at 9 a.m. April 10 for the 20 tours planned this year by the Department of Energy to let the public see cleanup at the Hanford Site in Eastern Washington state. The limited public bus tours are popular and all seats sometimes fill within a day, if not hours. Registration is available on a first-come, first-served basis at www.hanford.gov.
Tour participants must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years old. The tours, which last four to five hours, will start at 8 a.m. on selected weekdays from May 8 to Aug. 22. Tour buses leave from the Mission Support Alliance office building at 2490 Garlick Blvd. in Richland.
This year’s tours will offer in-depth information on at least seven projects:
- The Cold Test Facility, an above-ground mock-up of a Hanford radioactive waste storage tank used for demonstrating and testing tank waste retrieval technology.
- The Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility, a lined landfill that already holds close to 18 million tons of low-level radioactive, hazardous, and mixed waste.
- The 324 Building, where work is underway to remove a highly radioactive spill beneath the structure.
- The 618-10 Burial Ground, where radioactive waste from fuel fabrication and research laboratories was buried.
- The 200 West Pump and Treat facility, a groundwater treatment system that removes chemical, radioactive, and organic contaminants from water.
- The Waste Treatment Plant, which will be the world’s largest facility for vitrifying radioactive waste.
- The Sludge Removal Project, where workers in May are expected to begin removing highly radioactive waste from underwater storage at the K West Basin this spring for transfer to dry storage.
