National Academies report focuses on Hanford cleanup

July 21, 2023, 7:00AMNuclear News
A view of the Low-Activity Waste Facility at the Hanford Site. (Photo: DOE)

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) recently held a public meeting to discuss its third and final report centered on the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management’s tank waste cleanup mission at the Hanford Site in Washington state.

Hanford nears another cleanup goal

September 11, 2020, 11:59AMRadwaste Solutions

Hanford’s largest groundwater treatment plant, the 200 West Pump and Treat Facility, removes tons of chemical and radioactive contaminants from more than 2 billion gallons of groundwater each year. Photo: DOE/OEM

Fiscal year 2020 marks the sixth consecutive year that the Hanford Site, in southeastern Washington State, has treated more than 2 billion gallons of groundwater to remove contamination from decades of past operations to produce plutonium for the U.S. nuclear weapons program.

The goal this fiscal year, which ends September 30, is to treat at least 2.4 billion gallons, the Department of Energy reported on September 8.