Hanford Advisory Board: Dedicated to a better Hanford future
In 2019, the Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) celebrated 25 years of volunteer service to the citizens of the Pacific Northwest. Over 300 well-researched consensus advice letters, technical white papers and flow charts were developed and issued to leaders of the Tri-Party Agreement agencies. Those agencies include the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology).
Current TPA leaders — DOE’s Brian Vance, Ecology’s Alex Smith, and EPA’s Dave Einan — congratulated the HAB on its accomplishments and dedication to a better Hanford future at the HAB’s 25th Anniversary celebration in December.
As with every year, 2019 had its set of challenges for the HAB, but board members always look forward while learning from the past and remain committed to a better, safer Hanford cleanup. Members continue to encourage the TPA agencies to provide opportunities for the public to learn about and comment on cleanup issues.
The Direct Feed Low Activity Waste (DFLAW) vitrification (mixing waste with glass) process is a primary focus of the DOE Office of River Protection, and the HAB continues to support emptying the underground tanks of low-activity waste and processing it into a safer form for disposal.
Four pieces of consensus advice to DOE, EPA and Ecology were issued in 2019, including the HAB’s yearly cleanup priorities/budget advice. All HAB advice is available on our website www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/hab and I urge you to check it out. Additionally, the website contains all the presentations provided by the TPA agencies to the HAB at full board and subcommittee meetings. Hanford Advisory Board meetings are open to the public and the meeting calendar and locations are on the website as well.
The HAB’s well-informed consensus advice is the result of the members’ dedication to the best, safest Hanford cleanup possible, willingness to learn while working with the Tri-Party Agencies to become educated on issues, challenges, successes and upcoming decisions on Hanford Site cleanup actions.
The HAB members look forward to overcoming the challenges that 2020 has presented – the COVID-19 virus has already resulted in canceled and postponed meetings. However, HAB members continue to become educated on current and emerging Hanford issues and actions, work many volunteer hours, work to be flexible and be ready to resume the development of informed, thoughtful advice and recommendations.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Hanford Advisory Board: Dedicated to a better Hanford future."