Full Title: Hanford Cleanup: DOE Should Consider Including Expedited Nuclear Waste Treatment Alternatives in Upcoming Analysis
Author(s): U.S. Government Accountability Office
Publisher(s): U.S. Government Accountability Office
Publication Date: July 26, 2023
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Description (excerpt):
The Department of Energy (DOE) has developed plans for storing, preparing, staging, and transferring a portion of the radioactive liquid waste from decades of nuclear weapons research and production held in tanks at DOE’s Hanford site. The plans cover the first phase of waste treatment and disposal at Hanford’s Low-Activity Waste (LAW) facility, including means of identifying and managing barriers to the plans’ implementation. The plans also identify potential cost and schedule effects to the tank waste management and treatment mission from such barriers, which DOE refers to as risks not addressed. The following table shows some of the most likely (i.e., 90 percent chance or greater) and significant risks DOE identified during the first phase of treatment operations.