By Brian Vance

Years of dedicated effort led to historic achievements at the Hanford site in 2023, while also laying a firm foundation for another year of cleanup “firsts” in 2024. Beyond our important cleanup effort, the investment of nearly $3 billion in federal funding each year to support the work of our talented and dedicated workforce of more than 11,000 workers continues to meaningfully contribute to the growth of our thriving Tri-Cities community.   

The U.S. Department of Energy and contractor team (our “One Hanford” team) recognizes that safe and efficient environmental cleanup progress is vitally important to our site, our community and the Pacific Northwest. Since 1989 when the cleanup mission began, there has been tremendous progress in aging facility demolition (nearly 1,000 facilities safely demolished and safely dispositioned), soil remediation (over 1,000 waste sites remediated), extensive groundwater treatment to remove contaminants (nine years in a row treating more than 2 billion gallons each year), and most recently significant progress in our work to prepare to treat and disposition tank waste.

Aligning priorities 

Today, our One Hanford team is committed to operating as a single enterprise, aligned on common priorities through an integrated approach that is structured to efficiently and effectively mitigate hazards to our workforce and our community as we execute our mission and passion to clean up the environment.  

In our tank waste mission, our teammates at Bechtel successfully heated up the first of two state-of-the-art 300-ton melters at our Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), filling the first container with clean test glass in the plant’s Low-Activity Waste Facility in December 2023 to mark a major step forward in the comprehensive commissioning process. In March 2024, WTP teams followed a robust, disciplined approach in completing the heat up of the second of the two world’s largest melters that will transform Hanford tank waste into glass.

When the plant becomes fully operational, both melters will immobilize low-activity radioactive and chemical tank waste in glass for safe disposal at our Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF). Construction activities at IDF also were completed in 2023.

Our One Hanford teammates at Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) made great strides in continuing to treat tank waste which will ultimately be fed to the WTP when tank waste immobilization operations are scheduled to start next year. To date, more than 800,000 gallons of waste has been treated by our Tank-Side Cesium Removal System, achieving a Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management priority for 2023.

The treatment system removes radioactive cesium and solids from tank waste and delivers low-activity waste to a nearby storage tank, where it is staged until it can be fed to the WTP. The system is a key component of Hanford’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) Program to treat tank waste.

Our teammates at WRPS also continued important progress by readying facilities to work as one system under the DFLAW program as we execute our shift toward around-the-clock operations. One example is the completion of upgrades to Hanford’s Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF) that will allow it to process large volumes of liquid wastewater safely and effectively during tank-waste treatment operations.

Improvements to the nearly 30-year-old ETF facility began in 2019 and included replacing monitoring and control systems, freeze protection systems, wastewater filtration systems, as well as installing new systems to remove and safely dispose of byproducts from the waste treatment process.

In addition to upgrading ETF, we increased capacity of the nearby Liquid Effluent Retention Facility by adding a fourth 7.8 million-gallon storage basin to receive and store wastewater prior to treatment.

Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration LLC (dba Navarro-ATL) increased the pace of operations at the 222-S Lab in preparation for the startup of the WTP by processing more than 12,000 samples for site contractors in 2023.

Workers at the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility at the Hanford site have disposed of 19 million tons of debris from demolishing 800 facilities and cleaning up 1,300 waste sites since operations began in 1996.

| Courtesy U.S. Department of Energy

Protecting the environment

Beyond our tank waste mission, our One Hanford team also continued our mission to protect the environment through projects and activities that reduce the risks associated with the remnants of our national security mission while establishing a safe and secure site with the infrastructure necessary to continue to support our work for decades to come.

A few examples include the work of our Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) and its efforts to progress the demolition of the nuclear facility used to transfer radioactive sludge from a 1.2 million-gallon spent-fuel basin in Hanford’s K West Reactor to safer storage away from the nearby Columbia River. Workers also sorted and moved radioactive debris in the basin into underwater bins to prepare the basin to be drained and stabilized with engineered grout in 2024.

CPCCo workers at Hanford’s Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility have disposed of more than 19 million tons of waste since cleanup began. The large engineered landfill near the center of the site offers a safe and compliant location for the disposal of low-level radioactive, hazardous and mixed waste generated during cleanup activities on Hanford’s Central Plateau and in the nearby Columbia River corridor.

To protect the environment from contamination, the disposal facility has a multilayered liner that captures runoff from weather and dust-suppression activities and directs it to holding tanks for treatment.

CPCCo also treated more than 2 billion gallons of groundwater in 2023, bringing the total to more than 32 billion gallons treated since DOE began the process in the mid-1990s, significantly shrinking areas of groundwater contamination to enhance protection for the Columbia River.

To further reduce environmental risks in our tank farms, WRPS crews constructed a 144,100-square-foot interim surface barrier over a group of underground waste-storage tanks at the site’s U Tank Farm. Waste stored in Hanford’s underground single-shell tanks is largely in the form of sludge and saltcake, minimizing the potential for migration to the surrounding soils except through introduction of liquids like rain or snowmelt. The impermeable asphalt barrier diverts rain and snowmelt to a lined basin, where it evaporates.

The One Hanford team, led by our Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) teammates, remains focused on rightsizing and modernizing the site’s infrastructure to ensure Hanford’s electrical distribution system, information technology systems, water and sewer systems, and roads continue to support safe and cost-efficient cleanup progress.

A look inside the first container of test glass produced at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, before the lid is secured.
| Courtesy U.S. Department of Energy 

HMIS is constructing a new water treatment plant to efficiently deliver potable water to meet the needs of the site for many years in our enduring mission. Its work to maintain the roads and efficiently provide sitewide support and environmental services continues to contribute to our progress. Further, the Hanford Patrol and Hanford Fire Department, along with the HAMMER Training Center, continue to support our continuing commitment to a safe and healthy work environment.

On Jan. 1, 2024, Inomedic Health Applications Inc. joined the One Hanford team as the new occupational-medical services contractor for the site. The small woman-owned business has more than 25 years of experience in workforce health and safety, and is committed to continuing to provide world class occupational medical services to our Hanford workforce team.

Engaging the community

Community engagement continued to be a high priority, as highlighted by the return of the Hanford Dialogue from a Covid-induced hiatus. Members of the public not only received updates on key Hanford cleanup projects but had the opportunity to discuss nuclear waste cleanup issues and activities with agency decision-makers.

The Hanford virtual tour website, developed during the pandemic to support our commitment to share our progress with those interested in our important work, continued to be a success in 2023 with about 21,800 unique online visitors and more than 886,000 page views.

Our One Hanford team remains committed to delivering strong taxpayer value by advancing projects that reduce risks to our workforce, our community and the environment, while also continuing to materially contribute to the economic prosperity of the Tri-Cities and the Pacific Northwest.

We are poised for another exciting year of firsts in 2024, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with such a talented team of professionals and for the broad support we receive from beyond the borders of our immense site on a mission of national prominence.

Brian Vance is the manager of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of River Protection and Richland Operations Office, commonly referred to as the One Hanford team.