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Nuclear Waste: Management and Technical Problems Continue to Delay Characterizing Hanford's Tank Waste

RCED-96-56 Published: Jan 26, 1996. Publicly Released: Jan 26, 1996.
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Highlights

GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) progress in characterizing its tank waste at its Hanford site, focusing on: (1) whether it has met its characterization deadlines; (2) the impediments to meeting characterization deadlines; and (3) the impact that continued delays have on the characterization process.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy To ensure that Hanford's tank waste characterization program will provide a sound foundation for designing and building waste treatment facilities, the Secretary of Energy should commission an independent review of the characterization program, using an organization such as the National Academy of Sciences, to resolve questions about the technical adequacy of Hanford's characterization strategy. The review should focus on determining how much and what kind of information is sufficient to reliably characterize the tank wastes and predict the quantities and conditions of the waste constituents.
Closed – Implemented
DOE officials agreed with the value of having an outside technical review of the characterization program. They said they implemented this recommendation by directing the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to study program uncertainties related to Hanford tank wastes. The PNNL completed its study, entitled, "A Risk-Based Focused Decision-Management Approach for Justifying Characterization of Hanford Tank Waste," in April 1997. However, after reviewing PNNL's study, GAO found that it was not fully responsive to the recommendation. The study focuses on resolving issues related to tank safety. It does not evaluate how much and what kind of information is sufficient to reliably characterize the tank wastes and predict the quantities and conditions of waste constituents so that adequate treatment facilities could be designed and built, as GAO recommended.
Department of Energy To ensure that Hanford's tank waste characterization program will provide a sound foundation for designing and building waste treatment facilities, the Secretary of Energy should commission an independent review of the characterization program, using an organization such as the National Academy of Sciences, to resolve questions about the technical adequacy of Hanford's characterization strategy. The review should focus on determining the amount and quality of characterization information needed for DOE to proceed with the design and construction of waste treatment facilities.
Closed – Implemented
DOE officials agreed with the value of having an outside technical review of the characterization program. They said they implemented this recommendation by directing the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to study program uncertainties related to Hanford tank wastes. The PNNL completed its study, entitled, "A Risk-Based Focused Decision-Management Approach for Justifying Characterization of Hanford Tank Waste," in April 1997. However, after reviewing PNNL's study, GAO found that it was not fully responsive to the recommendation. The study focuses on resolving issues related to tank safety. It does not evaluate how much and what kind of information is sufficient to reliably characterize the tank wastes and predict the quantities and conditions of waste constituents so that adequate treatment facilities could be designed and built, as GAO recommended.
Department of Energy To ensure that funds for the overall tank waste remediation program are spent as wisely as possible, the Secretary of Energy should defer funding the construction of pretreatment and treatment facilities until the technical adequacy of the characterization program has been confirmed or established.
Closed – Not Implemented
DOE does not plan to defer funding the construction of pretreatment and treatment facilities until the technical adequacy of the characterization program has been confirmed. Instead, DOE has implemented the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) privatization program. Because this program will be implemented in two phases, DOE officials believe uncertainties about tank waste constituents will be resolved as the program evolves. In addition, DOE believes it has shifted the risk of treatment facility design and construction to private companies that will fund the construction and operation of pilot-scale facilities during Phase I, scheduled to begin in fiscal year 1996, and full-scale facilities during Phase II, scheduled to begin in 2004.
Department of Energy To ensure that funds for the overall tank waste remediation program are spent as wisely as possible, the Secretary of Energy should defer funding the construction of pretreatment and treatment facilities until sufficient waste characterization information is available to reliably define the requirements of those facilities.
Closed – Not Implemented
DOE does not plan to defer funding the construction of pretreatment and treatment facilities until sufficient waste characterization information is available to reliably define the requirements of those facilities. DOE implemented the TWRS privatization program. Because this program will be implemented in two phases, DOE officials believe that adequate information will become available when it is needed to support the design and construction of pretreatment and treatment facilities.

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Topics

Environment evaluationHazardous substancesNuclear facilitiesNuclear waste managementRadioactive waste disposalReporting requirementsSafety regulationTanks (containers)Nuclear wasteEcology