By David Bowen and Stephanie Schleif

Last year was another year of remarkable progress and cleanup at the Hanford site, and 2024 is shaping up to be one of our busiest years yet.

We’ve seen a lot of significant progress and tremendous achievements in 35 years of cleanup alongside our Tri-Party Agreement partners at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

However, we recognize the challenges that remain and are still committed to a cleanup that’s protective of human health and the environment for generations to come.

A look back

One of the site’s most significant achievements last year was the startup of Melter 1 and the creation of the first test glass at the Low-Activity Waste Facility. We appreciate our productive partnership with DOE and its contractors involving the extensive permitting we were responsible for to make this happen.

Ecology staff stand next to the first container of test glass at Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.

| Courtesy Washington state Department of Ecology

In December, System Plan 10 was issued after several years of hard work between our agency and DOE. This document looks at various options for the tank retrieval and treatment mission.

At Hanford, permitting is one of the most important jobs we do as one of Hanford’s regulators.

To that end, significant progress was made on our renewal of the Hanford sitewide permit. This permit is one of Ecology’s primary tools for overseeing DOE’s storage, treatment and disposal of mixed hazardous and radioactive waste at the site.

Our update to the sitewide permit will be a significant improvement, adding many facilities that weren’t in the last version and providing certainty for the contractors, DOE and our agency for operations and compliance.

We expect to open the permit for public comment in late 2024. We’re planning a robust public involvement effort to adequately engage and hear from everyone impacted by Hanford.

Hanford’s budget remained a top priority last year. We continue to support development of a budget that will move the project forward in a safe, effective and efficient way that increases the pace of cleanup while saving federal funds over the life of the project.

Major operational and capital construction projects on the horizon make this activity critical for success.

Our team met our inspection commitments to EPA last year. These compliance activities are another critical part of the work we do in making sure facilities on site comply with state and federal regulations.

Recruitment efforts paid off with talented people from across the nation joining the Ecology team as we continue to experience a generation of those working on cleanup beginning to retire. As we look to the next 35 years and beyond of cleanup, it’s critical to maintain a diverse, well trained and innovative workforce that will keep the work on track.

Education and outreach activities continued with in-person and virtual presentations and events last year. We were again in cities across the Pacific Northwest, engaging at schools, community colleges, professional association meetings, service clubs, community events and more.

In December, the TPA agencies hosted the first in-person Hanford Dialogue event since before the pandemic, engaging with the public about cleanup achievements, ongoing work and challenges.

Some other accomplishments across the site included:

• Continued progress on addressing contaminated soil and groundwater. This included work to reduce contamination leaching through the soil and finishing a plan to add more wells to better treat groundwater plumes.
• Working with DOE to bring the annual land disposal restrictions report into compliance.
• Settling a long-term dispute over data access, allowing DOE to view critical information for our work.

Washington state Department of Ecology staff tour Hanford’s Cold Test Facility.

| Courtesy Washington state Department of Ecology

Looking ahead

2024 promises to be an even busier year.

We will continue to support the startup of vitrifying low-activity waste, including booting up Melter 2 and supporting environmental testing of the melters. This testing will reassure the public that the environment will be protected from the off-gas of the vitrification process.

We’re excited to see low-activity tank waste properly treated and disposed following this commissioning process.

The test bed initiative (TBI) research development and demonstration permit will be out for public comment from early March through April this year, and we’re working with DOE to see the project through.

TBI involves the retrieval, pretreatment, grouting and off-site disposal of 2,000 gallons of Hanford’s tank waste. We hope the project will demonstrate a valid path to final appropriate disposal of some of Hanford’s tank waste at an out-of-state facility.

We’re prioritizing wrapping up our discussions with DOE and EPA on holistic negotiations – making public proposed changes to the Tri-Party Agreement and Consent Decree that outline DOE’s commitments to treat tank waste and retrieve and close tank farms on the site.

A few other projects we’re working on include:

• Negotiating soil and groundwater work milestones for Hanford’s central plateau with DOE and EPA, setting the pace of work for the coming years.
• A proposed plan for remediation work in the 100-N Reactor Area going out for public comment.
• Renewing the Hanford sitewide permit, Hanford’s air operating permit and the Perma-Fix Northwest permit.

On top of these efforts, we’re continuing our important education and outreach, maintaining our recruitment effort, and advocating for an adequate Hanford cleanup budget.

We’ve got a lot going on, but an amazing team in the program is up for the challenge. It takes exceptional and talented staff and managers to work on the complex permits, reports and cleanup documents for cleanup. We’re committed to providing our team what they need to do their jobs well and focus on creating an environment where everyone can thrive.

Leadership changes

The program also has seen a change in leadership. I have taken a new role with Ecology as the Central Region Office director in Union Gap. Our Deputy Program Manager Stephanie Schleif is the new the Nuclear Waste Program manager.

Benton County is still within the portfolio of the Central Region Office, and I will remain committed to helping prioritize and support the amazing progress on one of the largest cleanup efforts in the world.

David Bowen is the former Nuclear Waste Program manager. Stephanie Schleif is the new Nuclear Waste Program manager.