Washington State Department of Ecology

Department of Ecology News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Nov. 17, 1999

99-245

Contact: Roger Stanley, Ecology's Nuclear Waste Program, 360-407-7108
Suzanne Dahl, Ecology's Nuclear Waste Program, 509-736-5705

Negotiators agree on schedule for constructing, operating treatment complex at Hanford

OLYMPIA - Under an agreement reached this week, construction will begin by August 2001 on a new treatment complex for handling millions of gallons of nuclear waste that are stored in underground storage tanks at the Hanford site near Richland, Wash.

Negotiators for the Washington state Department of Ecology (Ecology), the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have agreed on requirements for building a treatment complex that will include a pretreatment facility, a vitrification plant for low-level radioactive waste, and a vitrification plant for high-level waste.

Under the agreement, a construction contract must be issued by Aug. 31, 2000, and construction is expected to begin by the following August. Initial commissioning of the facilities must begin in December 2007, and the complex must be fully operational in December 2009. At least 10 percent of the tanks' volume (equaling 25 percent of the total radioactivity) must be treated by December 2018.

The new agreement will be incorporated into the Tri-Party Agreement (TPA) of 1989 that governs the cleanup projects at Hanford. The TPA was signed by Ecology, EPA and DOE.

"From the state's perspective, the most important aspect of this agreement is that it has milestones that will be enforceable under the Tri-Party Agreement," said Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons. "We wanted more than just assurances and good intentions to be guiding this project."

"Vitrification of Hanford tank waste is a critical element in the success of the Hanford cleanup," said EPA Region X Administrator Chuck Clarke. "This agreement puts us one step closer to our goal of treating tank waste."

"I believe this action provides a strong step forward for all parties concerned. There is nothing like a clear goal to focus everyone's actions on achieving it," said Dick French, manager of DOE's Office of River Protection.

Several technical issues remain to be negotiated by the end of January 2000. They will cover requirements for regulating and managing construction and operation of the complex. The schedule for retrieving wastes from single-shell tanks at Hanford also will be revised.