Privatization of Hanford`s tank waste remediation system: A progress report

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is in the process of procuring privatized services for the cleanup of a portion of the highly radioactive tank waste (waste) contained in large underground storage tanks at the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington. This RCRA regulated cleanup activity is governed under the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, otherwise known as the Tri-Party Agreement. Under the Tri-Party Agreement, DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Washington State Department of Ecology have agreed to a timetable for cleanup of the Hanford Site. The tank waste was generated from the production of plutonium for the nation`s nuclear defense programs and has been accumulating at Hanford since 1944. Currently, there are approximately 55 million gallons of waste, containing an estimated 240,000 tons of process chemicals and 177 megacuries of radioactive elements, stored in 177 underground tanks. These caustic wastes are in the form of liquids, slurries, saltcakes, and sludge. In 1991, DOE established the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) program to ensure that these wastes are managed, retrieved, treated, immobilized, and disposed of in a safe, environmentally sound, and cost-effective manner. The TWRS mission is to conceptualize, develop, design, construct, and operate the physicalmore » system and technologies necessary to retrieve the waste from the tanks and convert it into an immobilized form, such as vitrified waste, suitable for ultimate disposal.« less