| Abstract |
CH2M HILL Hanford Group, Inc. manages the high level nuclear waste tanks for the Department of Energy's Office of River Protection, at the Hanford site in southeastern Washington State. The Hanford tanks contain more than 53 million gallons of waste, 200 million curies (three times that released by Chernobyl), and 67 of the 177 tanks have leaked at some time in the past. The current company has been responsible for the tanks since fall 1996. Previous to 1996, there is a long history of the Hanford tank farms being the bane of DOE Environmental Management. There were many problems with the tanks, but that is not the case today. The nuclear safety controls were so complex and varied for different tanks and different operations, that very few employees understood the hazards and the control requirements. In fact, in 1993, Congress found it necessary to pass a law restricting the operations of 54 of the 177 tanks due to safety concerns--these tanks are known as 'watch list' tanks. This was a bleak picture--DOE's most hazardous nuclear waste storage site--and no one really knew what was in the tanks and control measures were akin to bandaids and bailing wire. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, a presidential appointed group that oversees DOE nuclear safety, has declared that the tank contents are sufficiently characterized. The systems and a plan are in place to remove residual pumpable liquids from the non-compliant single-shell tanks by 2004. More than half of the tanks have been removed from the 'watch list' and the rest will be removed within the next year. And, a comprehensive plan exists to retrieve the waste, send it to a treatment plant, and close the tank farms. |
