The head of Washington’s state regulatory agency for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site said recently he is not opposed to grout so long as DOE keeps its focus on the ongoing operation to turn liquid waste into glass.
In a May letter to DOE, Washington state Department of Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller urged the feds to maintain focus on the existing multi-billion-dollar plant to turn waste into glass form. Sixkiller supports grouting some radioactive tank waste at the cleanup site, so long as funds are not diverted from the existing effort.
Crews at Hanford started vitrifying some of Hanford’s less-radioactive waste into a solid glass form last October at the Direct-Feed-Low-Activity-Waste (DFLAW) Facility at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). It marked the culmination of decades of work. It is also an investment of around $18 billion.
Sixkiller said in a May 22 letter to Tim Walsh, the head of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, the state is proceeding with permits allowing some of Hanford’s waste to be grouted but wants to prioritize the ongoing glassmaking.
DOE is proposing to “divert pretreated waste from DFLAW” and instead grouting some of the low-activity waste from the 200 West Area for shipment out of state, Sixkiller said in the letter. It would be “grouted rather than vitrified,” he said.
While DOE has said this glass-plus-grout approach would “accelerate” the nuclear cleanup at Hanford, Sixkiller has doubts. The Washington Ecology director said it appears DOE wants to shift limited resources from making glass to a new grouting operation that is not yet permitted.
The state believes it is important to ensure the success of DFLAW and grouting, as outlined in the 2025 “Holistic Agreement” between the feds and Washington state.
DFLAW is projected to treat 500,000 gallons of tank waste by the end of the calendar year and 1.5 million gallons by the end of 2027, Sixkiller said in the letter. At the same time, the state is continuing to work on permits for the grout, he added.