After the Department of Energy missed a Sept. 30 milestone to begin removing sludge out of Hanford’s K-Basin, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) yesterday asked DOE for a detailed plan for the project. This month the Environmental Protection Agency denied DOE’s extension request for the project and said it could begin fining DOE up to $10,000 per week for missing the milestone in Hanford’s Tri-Party Agreement. Hastings is seeking answers on cost and schedule details not provided in DOE’s extension request. “It is important for all decision makers and stakeholders to understand the impact that delays would have on public and environmental risks as well as on future cleanup costs. To help facilitate that, I request the cost, schedule and risk analysis associated with slowing or stopping K West sludge removal in the near term,” the lawmaker wrote in an Oct. 22 letter to DOE Environmental Management Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney.
The project can now be completed by the end of Fiscal Year 2018 for a total cost of $450 million, Hastings said. “I write to request the Department of Energy’s detailed plan for dealing with this EPA notification and for completing the sludge project as required under the Tri-Party Agreement,” he said. “I request details including, but not limited to, plans for spending remaining FY2015 funds-recognizing that this is not a new project and that both the House-passed and Senate Energy and Water appropriations bills include funds for sludge. I also request information regarding the funding required to continue this project in Fiscal Year 2016, as well as details about the mortgage and monitoring costs associated with further delays.”