Pertinent Publications

Reports and studies on Hanford cleanup

U.S. Government Accountability Office Supports Grouting Low-Level Waste at Hanford — Nuclear Waste Disposal: Actions Needed to Enable DOE Decision That Could Save Tens of Billions of Dollars, GAO-22-104365

Recommendations: Congress should consider clarifying two issues, including DOE's authority to manage and dispose of the tank waste as other than HLW, consistent with existing regulatory authorities. GAO also recommends that DOE expand the potential disposal options it assesses to include all facilities that could receive grouted supplemental LAW. DOE concurred with GAO's recommendation.

April 2022 — National Academy of Sciences review: Follow-on Report of Analysis of Approaches to Supplemental Treatment of Low‑Activity Waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation

The report concludes “Based on current and anticipated budgets for Hanford, only grout-based disposition alternatives appear to have a realistic chance of being affordable. … Vitrification, as the primary supplemental LAW treatment capacity, appears unaffordable under even the most optimistic assumptions…” Full report available under Meeting Materials (see Conclusions, pgs 47-49).

GAO-21-119SP, March 3, 2021, HIGH-RISK SERIES: Dedicated Leadership Needed to Address Limited Progress in Most High-Risk Areas

Congressional Actions Needed: Congress should consider clarifying DOE’s authority at the Hanford site to determine whether portions of the supplemental low-activity waste can be managed as other than high-level waste. Providing clear authority to DOE may allow it to use alternative waste treatment approaches to treat the Hanford Site’s supplemental low-activity waste, which could reduce certain risks by neutralizing the waste faster and save tens of billions of dollars. — Pg. 137

GAO-21-73, January 7, 2021, HANFORD CLEANUP: DOE's Efforts to Close Tank Farms Would Benefit from Clearer Legal Authorities and Communication

By Congress clarifying DOE's authority at Hanford to determine, with NRC involvement, that residual tank waste can be managed as a waste type other than HLW, DOE would be in a better position to move forward.

GAO-20-363, May 2020, DOE is Pursuing Pre-treatment Alternatives, but Its Strategy is Unclear While Costs Continue to Rise

The Department of Energy has been building a nuclear waste treatment plant at its Hanford, Washington site since 2000. Part of the plant (a pretreatment facility) has cost $3.8 billion so far. Technical challenges that posed major safety risks prompted DOE to stop work on the facility in 2012. Since then, DOE has spent $752 million (as of FY 2018), mostly to preserve and maintain it, and another $400 million pursuing facility alternatives to try to meet a 2023 goal. DOE has not used the best available methods to determine which alternative to pursue.

GAO-20-285PR, April 2020, DOE Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Energy

GAO made two priority recommendations that could reduce cleanup costs that contribute to DOE’s environmental liability. The federal government’s environmental liability has been growing for the past 20 years and is likely to continue to increase. As such, we added the federal government’s environmental liability to our High Risk List . GAO reported that DOE has not consistently taken a risk-informed approach to decision-making for environmental cleanup and therefore may be missing opportunities to reduce costs while also more quickly reducing environmental risks.

GAO-19-339, SEPT 2019, ENVIRONMENTAL LIABILITIES:
DOE Would Benefit from Incorporating Risk-Informed Decision-Making into Its Cleanup Policy
– https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-19-339

GAO-17-306 , May 2017, NUCLEAR WASTE:
Opportunities Exist to Reduce Risks and Costs by Evaluating Different Waste Treatment Approaches at Hanford
– https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-17-306

Final Review of the Study on Supplemental Treatment Approaches of Low-Activity Waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Review #4 (2020)
– https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25710/final-review-of-the-study-on-supplemental-treatment-approaches-of-low-activity-waste-at-the-hanford-nuclear-reservation

Report of Analysis of Approaches to Supplemental Treatment of Low-Activity Waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation – National Laboratories: SRNL, INL, ORNL, PNNL, SNL, and LANL, U.S. Department of Energy - https://www.nationalacademies.org/documents/embed/link/LF2255DA3DD1C41C0A42D3BEF0989ACAECE3053A6A9B/file/D5103F716F7BE9B50A8749F6FAD7382E42825D4BFC3E

2019 Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost Report, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C., January 2019,
– https://www.hanford.gov/files.cfm/2019_Hanford_Lifecycle_Report_w-Transmittal_Letter.pdf