Hanford Advisory Board: Looking out for the public’s interest

The year 2017 was marked with many transitions, changes and challenges for the Hanford Advisory Board (HAB), which consists of three Tri-Party Agencies: the Department of Energy (DOE); the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology).

Some agency managers have retired or transferred to other places and new folks have taken their places. The facilitation team that supported the HAB for more than 20 years has been replaced by a new contractor. The former chairman of the Board, Steve Hudson, is now fully retired and traveling the world. In 2017, the HAB selected Susan Leckband as the newly elected chair, returning to the leadership position during challenging times.

Member appointments to the HAB were delayed in 2017 as new Department of Energy staff worked to get up to speed with the advisory board appointment process. As a result, the board was unable to convene meetings for some months in 2017 until the appointments were completed.

Members returned in November 2017 to a full Hanford Advisory Board meeting with renewed vigor and commitment to participate in Hanford cleanup activities, sharing knowledge with the larger community and providing the Tri Party Agencies with informed, policy-level advice and recommendations.

The HAB has 5 standing committees: River and Plateau; Tank Waste; Budgets and Contracts; Health, Safety and Environmental Protection; and Public Involvement. The committees are formed by volunteers from the HAB based on their interest and background for the topics. Some committees meet more often than others as committee workplans require, emerging issues appear and additional cleanup information is learned. Board members maintain their knowledge base through discussions at board and committee meetings, agency briefings, on-site tours, and public meetings.

Committee meetings and HAB meetings are always open to the public. Meeting schedules, past HAB advice and much more information about the HAB can be accessed on the HAB website: https://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/hab. Committee meetings are typically held at the Richland Public Library, and the venue for the HAB meetings changes locations during the year.

Issues and topics the HAB considers and may provide advice or recommendations about include worker safety; the demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant; and the spread of nuclear contamination that recently came to light on the Hanford site; the challenges to removing contamination under the 324 building; the tunnel roof collapse at PUREX tunnel #1; Direct Feed Low Activity Waste stabilization; public involvement and transparent information sharing; sitewide cleanup priorities and much more.

The DOE’s Office of River Protection has identified Direct Feed Low Activity (DFLAW) as their priority for tank waste remediation. The HAB is convening a “meeting of the whole” on April 10 on the WSU campus in Richland to learn about and understand what is being planned to achieve success for this priority project. We also seek to understand how this project fits into the tank farms system and infrastructure. Board members request this kind of one-day meeting to work with the agencies to understand a topic that is complex and cuts across the interests of the various standing committees.

The organizations, volunteers and stakeholders who make up the Hanford Advisory Board understand that safe, environmentally sound, fiscally responsible cleanup is a marathon – not a sprint.

We always have the long-term cleanup goals in our sights as we work on current year topics and issues. HAB members will continue to listen and learn; the members are committed to working together to developing consensus advice to assist the Tri-Party Agencies to understand and use stakeholder, public and tribal values while decisions are being developed and actions implemented to achieve the long-term goal of waste mitigation and the environmental restoration of the Hanford Site.

This story was originally published April 1, 2018 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Hanford Advisory Board: Looking out for the public’s interest."