Department of Energy and WA should begin grouting Hanford’s low-level tank waste now

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently released its 2022 Hanford Lifecycle Report providing the estimated cost and schedule to complete cleanup of the Hanford Site. The cost estimate is staggering — $300 to $640 billion — with a completion schedule extended another 60 years.

Unfortunately, the true cost and schedule to clean up Hanford is far greater because these report estimates are based on a false premise. The DOE assumes that Congress has, and will, provide all the money DOE has planned and scheduled for vitrification of both high-level and low-level tank waste.

Hanford received $2.6 billion in fiscal year 2022; $500 million below the required amount identified for this year in the new report. Beginning in 2023, the scheduled funding estimates for Hanford skyrocket to a range of $4.4 to $6.4 billion. Projected budgets continue to climb with $7.5 to $14.5 billion needed for Hanford by FY2030. DOE and Congress recognize that these annual funding levels are unrealistic and unsustainable. The reality is, when funding falls short, schedules delay and costs rise even more.

Responding to reality, Congress requested the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study and identify less costly alternative technologies that could safely and effectively treat the mixed low-level waste (MLLW) portion, estimated to be 50 million of the 56 million gallons of waste stored in Hanford’s 177 underground tanks. The NAS and GAO have issued multiple reports over the past several years recommending grout to permanently immobilize the MLLW separated from Hanford’s tank waste. This same treatment method is used throughout the world, including the United States. According to the NAS and GAO reports, grout treatment of MLLW can be done for one-third to one-fifth the cost of vitrification while significantly accelerating Hanford’s cleanup schedule — saving tens of billions of dollars.

DOE successfully demonstrated grout treatment and out-of-state disposal on MLLW from Hanford’s tanks on a small scale five years ago. But, when DOE initiated a larger-scale demonstration, Washington’s Department of Ecology insisted on vitrification only, not grout, even though the grouted waste would be disposed of out of Washington at federally licensed commercial disposal facilities in Texas or Utah. These facilities offer geologically safer disposal locations than Hanford, which borders the Columbia River. The Department of Ecology continues to demand all tank waste be vitrified, effectively blocking the larger-scale grout demonstration for the past 3 years.

DOE and Ecology face a remarkable opportunity to turn things around now. In January, the Tank Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) System began treating some tank waste. Over 200,000 gallons has been treated and a one-million-gallon storage tank is planned to be full of treated MLLW this summer. DOE’s current plan is to then shut down TSCR and wait a couple of years for the new vitrification facility to start up before beginning any final treatment of this MLLW.

DOE and Washington State should take action now and begin grouting the available TSCRtreated MLLW. Several million gallons of waste could be treated, grouted, and shipped out-of state for disposal, making room in the storage tank for more TSCR-treated waste. Delay only increases costs while leak-prone tanks continue to degrade and threaten the environment.

The Department of Ecology’s regulatory overreach has resulted in ever-increasing cost and schedule delays at the expense of protecting human health and environment. DOE and Ecology should refocus efforts to actually complete Hanford’s cleanup mission. Residents of the TriCities, the Pacific Northwest, and the nation deserve no less!

This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 4:00 AM.