The Senate’s version of the fiscal 2019 Energy Department spending bill would set the budget for cleanup at the Hanford Site at $2.4 billion, rejecting proposed cuts from the Trump administration.
The Senate budget proposal, which does not include the safety and security money Hanford will receive, is $315 million above the administration’s request for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. It would restore all but $25 million of the funding DOE proposed to eliminate for the Washington state site, leaving the Senate’s proposed spending level just slightly below the current level. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday marked up the spending bill, which now advances to the full chamber for consideration.
The Senate energy and water development budget would provide $1.573 billion for the Hanford Office of River Protection, which manages the 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored in tanks and the Waste Treatment Plant being built to treat the material for disposal. That is $135 million more than the administration request of $1.438 billion and just above the current spending level of $1.56 billion. The administration had proposed a cut of $122 million.
The tank farm budget would increase from $719 million in this fiscal year to $772 million in the next budget. They money would help meet federal court-enforced consent decree milestones in future fiscal years for retrieving waste from single-shell tanks, for deferred maintenance and repairs, and for adding waste transfer lines.
The bill report would prohibit DOE from using any money from the Richland Operations Office budget for projects within Hanford tank farms. It would mean closure of the Hanford C Tank Farms, for instance, would not come out of the Richland Operations Office budget.
The vitrification plant construction budget would be set at $786 million, which includes $75 million to continue work on the plant’s Pretreatment Facility and High-Level Waste Facility. The money would help ensure work continues on those facilities, which will handle high-level radioactive waste, rather than putting them in extended preservation mode while DOE focuses on starting to treat low-activity radioactive waste by a 2023 deadline.
The budget includes no money for the Test Bed Initiative, at the request of the Senate Appropriations Committee, according to the bill report. The initiative is a three-phase pilot project to test grouting rather than vitrifying low-activity tank waste as a means to speed up treatment and to cut costs. Only the first phase, grouting 3 gallons of waste, has been completed. The Washington state Department of Ecology, a Hanford regulator, has said it expects all tank waste to be vitrified. The House of Representatives’ version of the energy and water bill would provide $15 million for the Test Bed Initiative.
The Richland Operations Office, which is responsible for operation of the Hanford Site and all remediation unrelated to the waste storage tanks, would receive $838.17 million under the Senate budget proposal. That does not include the safeguards and security money the office would receive. The Senate spending level would be $180 million more than requested by the administration, which proposed a $205 million cut to current spending.
The increase in spending is needed to ensure Tri-Party Agreement milestones for Hanford cleanup in future years can be met, according to the bill report. The proposed Senate budget would include money for cleaning up the highly radioactive spill under the 324 Building, interim stabilization of the second PUREX Plant waste storage tunnel, remediation and deactivation of the K West Reactor facilities, and site-wide infrastructure work. Although no budget amount was specified for the Hanford Workforce Engagement Center that opened this spring to provide information on resources for ill workers, DOE would be expected to support the center within the funding appropriated for the Richland Operations Office, the bill report said.
The Hanford spending approved last week by the House Appropriations Committee for fiscal 2019 would increase spending at the site by $246 million above the administration’s request, compared to the $315 boost proposed in the Senate appropriation bill. The House bill would set Richland Operations Office spending at $863 million, excluding safeguards and security spending, which is about $25 million more than proposed in the Senate bill. It would set Office of River Protection spending at $1.48 billion, which is less than the $1.573 billion proposed in the Senate bill.
