The National Academies committee studying supplemental treatment of low-activity waste at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state is accepting public comments until Nov. 20 on its upcoming report.
The comment period was originally scheduled to end Oct. 31.
A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel is reviewing a predecisional report issued in October by the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina on supplemental methods to treat the low-activity tank waste at Hanford. The nearly complete Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) Bechtel is building lacks sufficient capacity to convert all 56 million gallons of Hanford’s radioactive tank waste into glass. As a result, DOE is researching options such as more vitrification, grouting, and fluidized bed steam reforming technology.
The WTP is expected to vitrify between one-third to one-half of the low-activity waste, which was left by decades of plutonium production, according to the National Academies. Low-activity waste is believed to compromise 90% of Hanford’s tank waste.
The fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act stipulated the National Academies would provide a parallel examination to the SRNL study.
The Savannah River National Laboratory report concludes vitrification, grouting and steam reforming all provide viable options for treatment and disposal of supplemental low-activity waste. Vitrification is the most expensive of the three to build and operate, while the other two alternatives included an option for shipping the treated waste out of state.
The National Academies review suggests improvements in the final research from SRNL.
Comments are sought on issues like treatment technologies, disposal sites, cost, schedules, risks, or other topics under review in the two reports. Submissions are due by noon PT on Nov. 20 and can be emailed to [email protected].
The comments can also be sent by mail to Dr. Charles Ferguson, Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board, The National Academies, 500 5th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001.
The National Academies committee received testimony from federal, state, industry, and citizen group officials during a public meeting Oct. 31 in Richland, Wash., near the Hanford Site.
