<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Friday, March 29, 2024
March 29, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Hastings pushes DOE for Hanford tank answers

The Columbian
Published: December 12, 2014, 12:00am

Retiring Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., is pressing the Department of Energy for more information on the cost and implications of building more storage tanks at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

Hastings may not get an answer to the letter he sent to DOE before he retires at the end of the month. But his staff said there was value in having the possibility of new storage tanks discussed publicly and getting answers to questions on the record.

The state of Washington wants DOE to add 4 million gallons of new storage tank capacity, with the possibility of later requiring even more capacity, according to documents filed in federal court as the two parties argue over how to amend a court-enforced consent decree.

“The real solution to Hanford tank waste is not simply transferring waste from one storage tank into another storage tank – but rather retrieving and treating the waste so that it can be immobilized and properly disposed of in its final form,” Hastings wrote in a letter to Mark Whitney, acting assistant secretary of the DOE Office of Environmental Management.

Initiatives that distract focus and funds from getting waste now stored in underground tanks treated for disposal at the Hanford vitrification plant must be very carefully considered, Hastings said.

Hanford workers are transferring waste from 149 leak-prone single-shell tanks to 28 newer double-shell tanks to be stored until the waste can be treated at the vitrification plant. But the oldest double-shell tank is scheduled to be emptied because it has an interior leak, and double-shell tanks are nearing capacity with work on the vitrification plant behind schedule.

DOE already has said in federal court documents that new tanks to hold 12 million gallons of waste would cost $1 billion.

Hastings is asking DOE how much the initial 4 million gallons of tank capacity requested by the state would cost and how long it would take to construct, license and begin using the tanks. He also wants to know, given typical Hanford budgets, what other work at Hanford or elsewhere at DOE cleanup sites might be delayed or stopped to focus time and resources on new Hanford storage tanks.

“Hanford cleanup proposals cannot be considered in a vacuum, without complete understanding of the implications on all ongoing work,” Hastings said.

Safety is a concern, he indicated in the letter. He asked about the possible risks to workers and the environment associated with pumping waste into possible new storage tanks.

He questioned whether DOE has considered possible technologies for removing cesium and other radioactive isotopes from its existing double-shell tanks to create more usable space.

Other questions covered work to increase the current tank storage capacity available in an emergency and a new facility under consideration, the proposed Tank Waste Characterization Facility, to blend, sample and stage waste and do some pretreatment of waste before it is sent to the vitrification plant.

“I recognize the sensitive nature of legal negotiations, but believe that it is incumbent upon all of us to never lose sight of the fact that the legacy of our nation’s defense cleanup is funded by the American taxpayers,” he said.

Decisions on matters such as whether to build more storage tanks should not be made solely by lawyers behind closed doors, he said.

Although Hastings likely will be retired before DOE answers the letter, he sent a copy of the letter to Dan Newhouse, who will take Hastings’ place in Congress, plus Rep. Mike Simpson, chairman of the House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee.

Loading...