RICHLAND, Wash. – The Hanford site, a decommissioned nuclear production complex that manufactured plutonium for the Manhattan Project in World War II, has started solidifying waste in glass through the new Low-Activity Waste Facility.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Office of Environmental Management, Hanford houses 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste in 177 underground tanks.
The Hanford site had a Consent Decree legal commitment with the state of Washington to demonstrate “the ability of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant’s Low Activity Waste facility to produce immobilized glass of acceptable quality,” which they did on time, according to a press release from DOE.
The initial step was met with positive response from both Hanford and government officials.
“This achievement enables us to shift focus to safely operating the plant and to progressing solutions for the Hanford tank waste mission in its entirety,” Hanford site manager Ray Geimer said.
“After decades of design, engineering, and construction, Hanford workers are finally starting to immobilize millions of gallons of toxic nuclear waste in glass,” Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said in a statement. “This is an incredible technical and logistical accomplishment for the Hanford workforce and the Tri-Cities community that has dedicated decades to making the vitrification plant a reality.”
The Department of Energy has been engaged in long-standing efforts to clean up and/or safely dispose of waste at the Hanford site.
“The DOE Hanford Field Office is also responsible for all remaining Hanford cleanup and is currently focused on stabilizing and demolishing former plutonium production structures, excavating and disposing of contaminated soil and waste, treating contaminated groundwater, and configuring Hanford Site infrastructure for the future, with an emphasis on supporting the tank waste mission,” according to the DOE.
The Hanford site employs around 13,000 people.
For more information about the Hanford site, visit hanford.gov.
