In roughly a month the Washington state Department of Ecology will take comments on a Department of Energy proposal that could lead to offsite solidification and disposal of 2,000 gallons of less-radioactive tank waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state.
The 45-day public comment period, on whether to grant a Research, Development, and Demonstration permit for the much-discussed Test-Bed Initiative, should start mid-March and run through April, Ecology said in a Friday press release.
DOE and Amentum-led contractor Washington River Protection Solutions would use the permit to gauge the feasibility of an in-tank pretreatment system on site at Hanford’s Tank SY-101, according to the release.
This system would separate and pretreat about 2,000 gallons of low-level tank waste before sending it offsite, to either EnergySolutions in Utah or Waste Control Specialists in western Texas, for grouting and disposal. Grouting refers to mixing the waste with a concrete-like material.
A hybrid public meeting on the plan, with presentations by the state and DOE, will be scheduled for sometime in late March, according to the release.
In late November, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave its blessing to a variance from its Land Disposal Restrictions allowing the 2,000-gallon grout test to go forward.
In total, there is roughly 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous waste in Hanford’s underground tanks, the leftovers of decades of plutonium production during the Manhattan Project and Cold War.
While the Bechtel-built Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant is expected to convert all of the high-level tank waste into a solid, glass-form, DOE expects the plant to accommodate about 60% of the low-level waste. By volume, there is much more low-level waste than high-level waste.
In recent years, DOE has increasingly looked at concrete-like grout as a lower-cost option for solidifying low-level waste the plant cannot treat.
The 2,000-gallon test would be a follow-up to a three-gallon test in 2017.
