DOE-EM

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that evaluates the potential environmental impacts associated with the proposed development, operation, and long-term management of one or more disposal facilities for greater-than-class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste (LLRW).

The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 assigned the responsibility for the disposal of GTCC LLRW to the federal government. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management was designated as the specific office responsible for GTCC LLRW disposal. DOE remains committed to disposing of the GTCC LLRW.

The Department evaluated five alternatives in the Final EIS for the disposal of the GTCC LLRW and DOE-owned GTCC-like waste. The preferred alternative for the disposal is the Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, New Mexico, and/or land disposal at generic commercial facilities. The land disposal conceptual designs could be altered to provide the optimal application at a given location.

GTCC LLRW has radionuclide concentrations exceeding the limits for Class C LLRW as established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

GTCC waste is generated commercially. GTCC-like radioactive waste is owned or generated by DOE and has characteristics similar to GTCC LLRW. GTCC-like waste consists of LLRW and non-defense-generated transuranic waste.

The Final EIS is not a decision on GTCC LLRW waste disposal. Prior to making a final decision on which disposal alternative(s) to implement, which will be included in a Record of Decision, the Department will submit a Report to Congress on disposal alternatives for GTCC LLRW and await action by Congress as required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Read the Final EIS here.

NBC Right Now

February 25, 2016

RICHLAND, WA. - The Department of Energy says workers have finished cutting up and removing the two most highly contaminated pieces of processing equipment, called glove boxes, from the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site.

The DOE says workers started removing the glove boxes in June 2015.

They finished removing the first box in August, and finished removing the second this month.

The two large glove boxes were about two stories tall and were heavily contaminated with radiological hazards.

"Removing the glove boxes brings the Department of Energy and our contractor a significant step closer to being ready to start demolishing the plant," Tom Teynor, project director for the Department of Energy's Richland Operations Office, said.

He says this is some of the most hazardous work ever done on the site.

These were the most contaminated of the nearly 240 pieces of plutonium processing equipment at the plant that have been removed, or have been prepared to remove, during demolition preparation.

The two recently removed glove boxes were too large and too contaminated to remove from the building in one piece. Workers cut apart the glove boxes into pieces that have since been packaged for eventual permanent disposal. Thirteen smaller glove boxes are packaged and staged for removal from the main facility immediately before and during demolition, which is expected to start later this year.

Check out this time lapse video from the DOE.

Knox Blogs

February 24, 2016

As noted earlier, it’s become increasingly difficult to get timely information on the Uranium Processing Facility and work that’s taking place in the multibillion-dollar project’s engineering and design center.  It’s not clear how much of the design has been completed at this point, although project overseers have said they won’t start construction until the design is 90 percent done.

The current year’s funding for UPF is $430 million with a budget request to bump that up to $575 in FY 2017. A spokesman for NNSA declined to provide the current percentage of design completed or provide details on activities taking place.

Asked last week for more information on the project and its status, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who heads the Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, said the UPF design needs to be 90 percent by the end of 2017, with construction beginning in 2018.

Here’s his statement:

“For the Uranium facility, I have made clear the project needs to be completed by 2025 at a cost no greater than $6.5 billion, and the design needs to be at least 90% complete before construction of the nuclear facilities begins.”

Based on our discussions with the Department of Energy, we expect the design to be more than 90% complete by the end of next year, and construction of the nuclear facilities to begin in 2018.”