Suzanne Dahl has worked to treat radioactive tank waste at the Hanford cleanup site in southeast Washington for more than 30 years.
For Dahl, the tank waste treatment and section manager with the Washington Department of Ecology, improving nuclear waste storage at the facility has been her life's work.
So, when on a bluebird day this week, she saw the first massive 7-foot tall container of waste being lowered into a sandy pit in the desert, she felt a tightness in her chest.
“A bunch of energy that comes bubbling up and doesn’t have a place to go except in a smile,” Dahl said. “I thought back to when this waste was created 80 or so years ago, and then it was stored in tanks for all these years. It made me feel very emotional — proud,” she said.
The radioactive waste was created first as part of the Manhattan Project for World War II, and it continued through the Cold War.
This is the first radioactive waste that is being disposed of in a new engineered dump in Central Hanford. It marks an accomplishment sought since Hanford cleanup began.
Making glass
The waste has been bound up into glass in a new factory run by the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors. Hanford’s tank waste comes in liquids, sludges and solid salt cake form.
At the new plant, the waste is mixed with glass at high temperatures in a melter and then poured into stainless steel canisters. Binding the waste into glass means the radioactive waste is less likely to leak.
A total of about 30 containers of low-activity tank waste bound up with glass have now been staged on a concrete pad. About six were expected to be moved into the sandy dump in central Hanford by the end of this week. Each container weighs about seven tons.
The Integrated Disposal Facility, or IDF, is a landfill meant to dispose of the low-activity waste from Hanford’s tanks once it’s been bound up in glass. This waste will stay here for the foreseeable future.
“This is a proud and meaningful achievement for the entire Hanford team,” said Hanford Site Manager Ray Geimer in a DOE press release. “Safely beginning disposal shows that the systems, facilities and people needed to support tank waste treatment are working together. Each container placed in the IDF reduces long‑term environmental risk and moves us forward on DOE’s commitment to protect the community and the environment.”
The details
The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant — which broke ground in 2002 — has not been without controversy. There have been federal hearings, and high-level whistleblowers on the project during its construction that has spanned decades.
But this latest accomplishment means less waste in aging, leaky tanks spilling into the desert sand, not far from the Columbia River.
The plant now employs about 3,000 people and state of the art technology. After its testing and slow start-up phase is through, the plant will kick out three to four containers of glass per day when running at full tilt.
There are 177 tanks at Hanford, each the size of a modest home. And there’s still 56 million gallons of radioactive waste left that needs to be bound up into glass or grout.
“Every gallon of waste taken out of tanks, turned into glass, and disposed of in this landfill better protects the environment, the Columbia River, and surrounding communities,” Dahl said in a written statement. “Congratulations to the U.S. Department of Energy and the Central Plateau Cleanup Company on this historic achievement.”
Where the waste goes
The engineered dump, called the Integrated Disposal Facility, is located in the central part of Hanford. Then the containers are moved into the facility.
The dump is approximately two-and-a-half football fields long and five football fields wide, according to the Central Plateau Cleanup Company. The landfill is about 45 feet deep. The facility has also been designed to be expanded as needed.
“Starting disposal at IDF demonstrates our shared commitment to mission progress,” said Central Plateau Cleanup Company President Bob Wilkinson in a DOE press release. “Every ILAW [Immobilized Low-Activity Waste] container safely placed in the disposal facility is another step in addressing Hanford’s tank waste legacy and reducing the footprint of risk on the Central Plateau.”
