Doe Ignorant About Waste, Auditors Say

The National Academy of Sciences or some other independent body should review plans to identify and treat highly radioactive waste at the Hanford nuclear reservation, congressional auditors said Monday.

The Energy Department also should postpone spending on new waste treatment facilities until the DOE knows more about the mix of potentially dangerous materials inside Hanford’s underground storage tanks, the General Accounting Office said.

“After more than 10 years and about $260 million invested in trying to characterize the tank wastes at Hanford, little definitive progress has occurred,” the GAO said in a report to Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary made public on Monday.

“DOE’s current proposal raises questions about whether enough characterization information will be available to build effective facilities for retrieving the wastes and preparing them for permanent disposal,” the audit said.

“We continue to believe that construction of treatment facilities should not be funded until the technical adequacy of DOE’s characterization strategy is confirmed or established by independent sources.”

The National Academy of Sciences could help resolve questions about the 55 million gallons of mixed chemical and radioactive wastes in underground tanks.

Scientists disagree over how many samples need to be taken to sufficiently characterize the tank contents and how to reconcile differences between historical data on the contents and actual waste samples, GAO said.

Energy Department officials had no immediate response Monday, although the report indicated that DOE officials did not believe the audit adequately recognized recent improvements in the sampling schedule. DOE has estimated it will have to spend at least $569 million more through September 1999 to comply with cleanup agreements affecting the tanks.