Judge upholds DOE deadlines on Hanford cleanup

KENNEWICK – A federal judge ruled this week that the Department of Energy will be required to build new storage tanks for high-level radioactive waste at Hanford Nuclear Reservation if it does not meet certain deadlines related to cleanup projects.

The Tri-City Herald reported Friday that the order issued by Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson had wins and losses for both the Department of Energy and the state of Washington on proposals for new court-enforced deadlines.

Hanford, located near Richland in Eastern Washington, contains 177 nuclear waste tanks, some of which have leaked. The nation’s largest collection of radioactive waste is left over from the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons in World War II.

The Department of Energy had proposed waiting to set deadlines until it is certain technical issues can be resolved and the deadlines can be met, but Peterson said the agency must be held accountable to firm deadlines.

Under a 2010 agreement with the Energy Department, the department was given deadlines to build a plant to treat Hanford’s most dangerous radioactive wastes and to retrieve wastes contained in single-walled tanks. Since 2011, the Energy Department has repeatedly told the state it cannot meet those deadlines.

Peterson also ruled late Thursday the DOE would not be required to build two new facilities at the Hanford tank farms that would allow the Hanford vitrification plant to begin treating certain wastes while unresolved technical issues delay full operation of the plant.

Following Peterson’s ruling, the DOE and the state are required to submit revised proposals for amending the consent decree.