Department of Energy ends plans for test to dispose of Hanford waste capsules

The Department of Energy is dropping plans for a test meant to see if some Hanford nuclear waste could be disposed of in a deep borehole.

The project had been championed by former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.

He had proposed a borehole about 3 miles deep for disposing of some small packages of nuclear waste, such as the 1,936 radioactive capsules at Hanford. The capsules, filled with cesium and strontium, now are stored underwater in a pool in central Hanford.

The material, containing about a third of the total radioactivity at Hanford, was removed decades ago from tanks holding high-level radioactive waste to reduce the temperature of the waste inside the tanks.

A deep borehole was proposed as an alternative to disposal at a national repository, after the former presidential administration stopped work on the Yucca Mountain, Nevada, facility. Deep borehole disposal could happen much sooner, Moniz said.

However, DOE had trouble finding a location for a borehole demonstration project. Communities feared that the test drilling site might later be used for nuclear waste disposal.

As recently as December, DOE said potential sites were being considered in South Dakota, Texas and New Mexico for a test drill.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.