ECA warns of delay to DOE’s interpretation of HLW

The Energy Communities Alliance (ECA), which advocates for communities adjacent to or impacted by Department of Energy sites, is asking the department to conduct an independent analysis evaluating the impacts of delaying the implementation of its statutory interpretation of high-level radioactive waste, which holds that some waste from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel may be classified as non-HLW.

The ECA's request was part of comments the organization made in response to a settlement agreement signed in April by the DOE, the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the cleanup of radioactive liquid tank waste at the DOE's Hanford Site near Richland, Wash. The agreement proposes new and revised cleanup deadlines.

The ECA expressed concern about the agreement's "forbearance provision," in which the DOE commits to refrain from applying its HLW interpretation when disposing of treated waste or closing tank systems at Hanford. The DOE affirmed its HLW interpretation with a notice published in the Federal Register in December 2021.

The concerns: In a September 3 letter to Ecology's Daina McFadden, ECA chair Brent Gerry noted that the DOE's HLW interpretation has the potential to reduce cleanup costs and increase the safety of workers, host communities, and the environment by reducing the length of time that radioactive waste is stored at DOE sites.

"We are concerned that further delay in implementing the HLW interpretation at Hanford has a cost and potential impact to the health and safety of the community," Gerry wrote. "We understand that the state has been against the use, but the local community has supported the use-as they are the impacted communities."

Gerry, who is also the mayor of West Richland, Wash., added that the DOE should proceed with the HLW interpretation on the basis of recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office; the National Academy of Sciences, and the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future.

"If the interpretation is not applied, what is the cost to the whole [DOE Office of Environmental Management] cleanup program, and is this safer for human health and the environment than a decision to use the HLW interpretation?" Gerry wrote.

TBI demonstration: In his letter to Ecology, Gerry also said the HLW interpretation was consistent with the implementation of the DOE's Test Bed Initiative (TBI) demonstration at Hanford, in which 2,000 gallons of tank waste will be treated and shipped to facilities in Utah (EnergySolutions) and Texas (Waste Control Specialists), where it will be immobilized in grout and disposed.

In 2023, the DOE determined that the TBI demonstration waste "is incidental to the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, is not high-level radioactive waste, and will be managed as low-level radioactive waste."

On August 6, the DOE announced that as part of the TBI demonstration, workers at Hanford had begun installing equipment to retrieve and treat low-activity waste from Tank SY-101, a double-shell tank in Hanford's 200 West Area.

According to the DOE, workers will install and test the equipment through September, with treatment operations set to take place by the end of the year. The DOE plans to ship the treated waste in fiscal year 2025 after laboratory testing ensures it meets requirements.

Ecology issued a research, development, and demonstration permit for the TBI demonstration earlier this year.