New deadlines for Hanford cleanup proposed

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer

Proposed new deadlines for Hanford cleanup would speed up work to protect the Columbia River from chemical and radioactive contaminants, but give the Department of Energy more time for other cleanup work.

The new deadlines are among a major series of changes proposed to the legally binding Tri-Party Agreement after DOE and its regulators, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology recently reached agreement.

"They reflect a shared vision and priorities," said Matt McCormick, DOE assistant manager for central Hanford.

The changed deadlines are not expected to be approved until late May to allow time for public comment.

The agencies agreed on changes in about two weeks of discussion, a far different outcome than the earlier 18 months of negotiations on the Tri-Party Agreement that ended with the state suing DOE in federal court in late November.

The proposed changes do not cover deadlines to empty Hanford's leak-prone underground tanks of radioactive waste or treat the waste at the vitrification plant, work that has fallen years behind schedule. Those issues will continue to be addressed by the lawsuit filed by the state to win court enforcement of deadlines.

But the proposed changes do incorporate proposals to speed ground water cleanup and protection that were discussed in the earlier, failed negotiations.

All the agencies agreed that the new ground water milestones were "the right thing to do for cleanup," said Doug Shoop, deputy manager for the DOE Richland Operations Office.

Other changes to extend deadlines were proposed largely because of lack of money and technical problems, combined with a focus on getting Hanford cleaned up along the Columbia River. DOE wants to shrink the contaminated portion of the nuclear reservation to 75 square miles at its center.

"I don't think any of the tri-parties like to see dates delayed for technical or budget reasons, but that's the reality," Jane Hedges, program manager for the state's Nuclear Waste Program, told the Hanford Advisory Board on Friday.

The real plus for the state is the new proposed deadlines to have plumes of ground water contamination headed for the river contained, she said.

Plumes of chromium in the ground water near the D, H and K reactors in north Hanford are required to be contained to prevent them from reaching the river by 2012. The ground water must be cleaned up there by 2020. Chromium, which was used as a corrosion inhibitor in reactors, is particularly toxic to fish.

The radioactive strontium plume near Hanford's N Reactor must be contained so it does not reach the river by 2016, and the uranium plume in the 300 Area would be required to be contained by 2018.

In addition, DOE would be required to have a plan and schedule to clean up the plumes, rather than just containing them, along with other ground water contamination along the Columbia River by 2012.

The proposed deadlines also would require DOE to contain uranium, technetium and carbon tetrachloride plumes in central Hanford to prevent them from moving toward the river.

"To do this 'get' work on the river, there had to be some 'gives,' " said Dennis Faulk, EPA environmental scientist.

DOE told its regulators in November that it likely would miss 23 deadlines in central Hanford because of lack of money in 2009.

The proposed deadlines would allow DOE to slow down retrieval and packaging of transuranic waste -- waste typically contaminated with plutonium and temporarily buried at Hanford until a national repository for the waste opened in New Mexico.

DOE also will have more time to prepare feasibility studies required to come up with cleanup plans for sites in central Hanford. New schedules would be set by the end of the year.

The proposed changes are intended to allow DOE to focus more of its budget on work along the Columbia River.

In more proposed changes, DOE will have new deadlines to clean up the area near the K East and K West reactors as radioactive sludge from the basins continues to be problematic. Deadlines for various work there already have been extended 10 times.

DOE was required by the Tri-Party Agreement to start sludge treatment before the beginning of this year, but continues to work on a plan to treat it.

Under the proposed new plan, cleanup work has been divided into projects that can be done while the sludge remains in underwater containers at the K West Reactor basin and work that must wait until the sludge has been moved to central Hanford for treatment.

By March 2011, DOE must have a schedule for completing the remainder of the work, including removing the K West Basin and having the K West Reactor torn down to little more than its radioactive core and then sealed up. The deadline for the same work at the K East Reactor has been extended from Sept. 30, 2011, to July 21, 2014.

The proposed new deadlines also will allow Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to continue to use four buildings in Hanford's 300 Area for another 20 years. Those buildings now are required to be torn down under the Tri-Party Agreement.

The three agencies also have agreed to start discussions to develop a strategy to clean up central Hanford. Those discussions could lead to more changes to the Tri-Party Agreement.

A public comment period on the proposed changes is expected to begin next month.

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Saturday, Feb. 07, 2009

New deadlines for Hanford cleanup proposed

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer