Hanford Cleanup News
April 25, 2022 — It’s time sanity returned to the Hanford nuclear waste disposal program, by Jim Conca, Tri-City Herald
There are some good ways to handle this waste, and some bad ways. Thirty years ago, the powers at that time chose one of the bad ways. Those people chose vitrification, or turning the waste into glass, even to treat the least radioactive waste in these tanks.
Grouting this waste is recommended by four National Laboratories, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the National Academies of Science, and almost every scientist in this field. [Grouting with out-of-state disposal, not grouting in place.]
April 2022 — Tri-City leaders push grout as better, faster, cheaper approach to Hanford’s low-level tank waste, by Wendy Culverwell, Tri-Cities Business Journal
The group [Northwest Energy Associates] said it aims to collaborate with, not fight, DOE and the Washington Department of Ecology over the best way to treat waste.
March 14, 2022 — Congress adopts record high budget to clean up Hanford, WA nuclear contamination, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
The spending package includes a record high amount of nearly $2.6 billion for maintenance and environmental cleanup of the Hanford site adjoining Richland in Eastern Washington.
But even that amount falls shy of cleanup costs, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., pointed out in budget hearings. Congress would need to budget for than $11 billion a year for the next 57 years to complete Hanford cleanup, she said.
March 10, 2022 — DOE releases updated cleanup strategy, Radwaste Solutions
The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) has issued EM Strategic Vision 2022-2032, a blueprint for planned nuclear-related cleanup efforts over the next decade. Strategic tasks include “initiating radioactive tank waste treatment at the Hanford Site in Washington State and completing other significant risk-reduction activities at the site.”
March 8, 2022 — DOE and WA should grout low-level waste now, by Gary Petersen, Guest Opinion, Tri-City Herald
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.
March 3, 2022 — Mid-Columbia Energy Initiative — The Pacific Northwest’s Clean Energy Innovation Hub
February 2, 2022 — ‘Monumental step.’ Industrial-scale processing of Hanford radioactive tank waste begins, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
DOE set a goal of having 1 million gallons of low-activity waste pretreated and stored for vitrification in one of Hanford’s newer underground tanks by the end of this year.
February 1, 2022 — DOE estimates $100s of billions needed to finish Hanford nuclear waste cleanup, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
Completing cleanup of the Hanford nuclear reservation will cost an estimated $300 billion to $640 billion, according to a new Department of Energy report.
Dec. 29, 2021 — US affirms new interpretation for high-level nuclear waste, by Keith Ridler, Associated Press
The Biden administration has affirmed an interpretation of high-level radioactive waste that is based on the waste’s radioactivity rather than how it was produced.
Dec. 10, 2021 — HLW Interpretation Appears to be Sucked into a Black Hole for Hanford, while Savannah River Site Sees Light at the End of the Tunnel, theEDGE
There is some hope for the High-Level Waste interpretation in general and the ability to resume its application at the Savannah River Site. According to a source, DOE’s General Counsel is getting closer to completing its review. Perhaps the new year will usher in progress.
Dec. 9, 2021 — NUCLEAR WASTE DISPOSAL: Actions Needed to Enable DOE Decision That Could Save Tens of Billions of Dollars
New Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says grouting the low-level waste from Hanford underground storage tanks could save billions of dollars, and several facilities could dispose of it out of the state of Washington.
GAO recommended that DOE look at disposal options for grouted waste and suggested that Congress consider clarifying DOE's authority to manage and dispose of low-activity waste.
Nov. 11, 2021 — Waste Control Specialists Letter to the Department of Energy
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP on behalf of Waste Control Specialists LLC (“WCS”) provides the following comments concerning the U.S. Department of Energy’s (“Energy”) Draft Environmental Assessment of the Test Bed Initiative Demonstration.
June 28, 2021 — Record Hanford budget proposal still far below nuclear cleanup costs, U.S. senator says, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
[Hanford] Cleanup could continue until 2078, said Senator Patty Murray, although the worst-case scenario in the Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost Report projected cleanup would take decades longer. Using the 2078 completion date, cleanup would require Congress to budget more than $11 billion a year for the next 57 years, Murray said.
June 29, 2021 — Feds move closer to testing a cheaper way to treat Hanford radioactive waste, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
The Department of Energy is taking an initial step that could result in more of Hanford’s radioactive tank waste being turned into a concrete-like grout and shipped out of Washington state for disposal.
May 24, 2021 — Questions for DOE and WA state about Hanford tank waste cleanup | Guest Opinion, by Gary Petersen and Bob Ferguson, Tri-City Herald
What is the true current estimated cost and schedule for cleanup completion of tank waste at Hanford? And what are the major assumptions of this estimate?
DOE has not put forth a credible, workable, or affordable plan that completes Hanford tank cleanup before the next century.
April 5, 2021 — ‘Serious disappointment.’ WA state is politicizing massive Hanford cleanup, Newhouse says, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
Washington state officials are playing politics with the environmental cleanup of the Hanford nuclear reservation, Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., told the nation’s new energy secretary. “Not only was it unprecedented and seriously lacking in judgment for these officials to sign onto a letter alongside special interest groups, the letter also purports to attack the scientific grounds of the proposal in a misleading and false manner,” Newhouse said.
March 4, 2021 — ‘Just plain wrong.’ Tri-Cities leaders blast WA state over Hanford nuclear waste rule, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
The state of Washington is not representing the best interests of the Tri-Cities on Hanford-related matters, say local leaders in a strongly worded letter to new Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
Letter from Tri-Cities Leaders to Energy Secretary Granholm — National Laboratories Letter attached
March 3, 2021 — Department of Energy, nuclear oversight agency on 'high-risk' list, by Scott Wyland, Santa Fe New Mexican
The new GAO report lists programs and operations that are high-risk due to their vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement — and some require an overhaul. [Hanford is high on that list.]
March 1, 2021 — Former Energy Secretary Chu: Contractors hold up nuclear waste R&D
Former Energy Secretary Steven Chu asserts that contractors who profit from the status quo oppose research into improved ways of dealing with nuclear waste. Cites Hanford specifically.
February 26, 2021 — Hanford must meet Biden’s carbon emissions order — Guest Opinion, by Gary Petersen, Bob Ferguson, and Bill Lampson
Executive orders have the effect of law — what will DOE Hanford do to meet these requirements?
JAN. 15, 2021 — DOE Studies 2nd Trial Run of High-level Reinterpretation With Savannah River Waste, by Wayne Barber, Weapons Complex Monitor
In a report to Congress last week DOE said billions of dollars could be saved if lawmakers legally changed the classification of certain high-level waste that might not require the highest risk designation based on its radiological traits.
Jan. 7, 2021 — Grouting much of Hanford's waste may save $210 billion, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
Congress has already appropriated money to continue the demonstration of the grouting project on more waste, said Gary Petersen, president of Northwest Energy Associates, a nonprofit, Hanford advocacy group formed by Tri-Cities area business leaders. He questions why the second phase of the test, which would involve grouting 2,000 gallons, has not started.
U.S. Department of Energy’s Report to Congress: Evaluation of Potential Opportunities to Classify Certain Defense Nuclear Waste from Reprocessing as Other than High-Level Radioactive Waste, December 2020
Jan. 6, 2021 — Billions could be saved at Savannah River Site by reclassifying radioactive wastes, DOE says, by Colin Demarest, Aiken Standard
While most of the savings would be realized at Hanford, a World War II- and Cold War-era plutonium powerhouse now notoriously difficult to remediate, upward of $5 billion could be saved at the Savannah River Site south of Aiken, the study suggests.
Jan. 4, 2021 — Deadline delayed again to start treating millions of gallons of Hanford radioactive waste, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
But U.S. Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson in December agreed to extend the 2023 consent decree deadline that she set nearly five years ago. The same ruling also gives DOE more time on two other vitrification plant deadlines and two deadlines to empty radioactive waste from certain underground tanks that are prone to leaking.
Dec. 8, 2020 — Expedite Hanford cleanup with new science-driven approach, by Sen. Sharon Brown, Reps. Brad Klippert, and Matt Boehnke, Tri-City Herald
… we strongly encourage DOE and its two regulators, the state Department of Ecology and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, to actively explore new, innovative ways to expedite cleanup and reduce costs while continuing to protect public health and the environment.
October 27, 2020 — Feds allow more time for $16 billion in new contracts at Hanford to take effect, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
The Department of Energy will take more time to transition to two new contractors at the Hanford nuclear reservation. Now both the new central Hanford cleanup contract valued at up to $10 billion and also the new site services contract valued at up to $6 billion will take full effect on Jan. 24.
October 5, 2020 — ‘Outdated.’ Hanford is unprepared for another radioactive tank waste leak, says federal audit, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
Hanford could face long-term issues as deteriorating tanks are now planned to store waste until at least 2047. The report is Office of Inspector General, U.S. DOE, Audit Report, DOE-OIG-20-57, September 2020.
September 24, 2020 — Hanford contractor to stay for another year, feds announce 6 days before contract expires, Tri-City Herald
DOE is rethinking a $13 billion award to a new contractor after issues were raised.
September 22, 2020 — Hanford companies agree to pay $58 million over alleged overcharging of taxpayers, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
The companies building the $17 billion vitrification plant at Hanford have agreed to pay nearly $58 million to the federal government to settle allegations that they billed the Department of Energy for fraudulent labor costs.
Bechtel Corp. and its primary subcontractor, Aecom, were sued in 2017 by four current or former Hanford site employees who said they were retaliated against for raising time-charging issues.
The lawsuit was joined by the Department of Justice and unsealed on Tuesday as the settlement agreement was announced.
September 1, 2020 — New nuclear needs solution inclusion, by Don Brunell, Wenatchee Valley Business World
If Americans are to receive all of their electricity without coal and natural gas by 2035, they will need nuclear power. Even if Washingtonians, who already procure more than 70% of their electricity from the hydro, are to be completely devoid of fossil fuel generation by 2045, they must have nuclear.
August 7, 2020 -- Radioactive SRS waste to be disposed of in Texas after Energy deems it less hazardous, by Colin Demarest, Aiken Standard
“The U.S. Department of Energy intends to send a few gallons of radioactive wastewater at the Savannah River Site to a facility in Texas for treatment and disposal, a spearhead of sorts made possible by the department's recent decision that the waste is markedly less dangerous than previously characterized.”
July 28, 2020 -- Protests prompt feds to rethink award of $13 billion Hanford contract, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
The federal government has dismissed appeals protesting the award of a $13 billion contract for Hanford tank waste work to a team headed by BWXT with Fluor Federal Services. But that is not the end of the matter. The Department of Energy decided to take corrective action…
May 13, 2020 -- 3 Tri-Cities businessmen start nonprofit to cut Hanford red-tape that’s slowing cleanup, by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
Tri-Cities business leaders frustrated by what they see as skyrocketing taxpayer costs and decades of delays at the Hanford nuclear reservation have launched a nonprofit to advocate for faster environmental cleanup.