Draft Plan Released For Hanford Cleanup

State and federal officials favor a plan to remove and treat dangerous Cold War wastes from buried Hanford Nuclear Reservation tanks “in affordable chunks,” they said Wednesday.

The draft environmental impact statement, written jointly by the U.S. Energy Department and the state Department of Ecology, calls for phased construction of pilot plants to treat 56 million gallons of highly radioactive and chemically toxic defense wastes.

The proposal, subject to public review through May, outlines nine options and identifies a “preferred alternative” that best meets the goals of a Tri-Party Agreement signed by state and federal agencies for Hanford cleanup, said Thomas Grumbly, acting Energy Department undersecretary for environmental management.

That alternative also offers the best protections for worker and public health, and provides for the most cost-effective removal of at least 99 percent of the wastes, Grumbly said in a telephone news conference from Washington, D.C.

The nine options range from doing nothing to extremely technical solutions that are not permitted under state or federal law, Grumbly said.