The Hanford Tanks Environmental Impacts and Policy Choices (1996) / Chapter Skim
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4 Recommendations
4 Recommendations
Pages 44-55
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From page 44... ...
Among the issues that remain uncertain are: effectiveness and feasibility In practice of technologies to remove and treat waste from tanks, costs of operations and off-site waste disposal, . fixture policy alla regulatory environment for managing waste at the Hanford Site, characterization of tank wastes, and .
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From page 45... ...
In the phased approach described in the DENS, the first phase is more like a demonstration project in which two pilot plants provide operating experience that will allow optimization of the relevant processes associated with a single technology before the construction of fill-scale facilities. In the phased decision strategy recommended in this report, the first phase should provide information about backup technologies and overall strategies to leave open the option of selecting a different alternative for filll-scale operation.
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From page 46... ...
After the first phase in the strategy recommended by the committee, DOE and the State of Washington would supplement the final IWRS Environmental Impact Statement and issue a new record of decision selecting a preferred alternative based on the new information and understanding of We feasibility and imp acts of several alternative strategies developed during the first phase. The reality is that a multidecade commitment to a particular course of action for remediating all of the Stanford tanks cannot be made at this time.
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From page 47... ...
~ making this recommendation, Me committee concurs filthy with the conclusion of the DOE System Requirements Review AS. Department of Energy, 1995~.7 That review recommended a similar course of action, involving development of a baseline and testing of both the baseline and backups(U.S.DepartrnentofEnergy,1995~.8 Range of Alternatives to Consider The committee recommends Mat DOE and Me Washington State Department of Ecology not restrict their decision to choosing one among Me nine alternatives identified in the DENS.
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From page 48... ...
Costly options designed to meet regulatory requirements may fail to provide significant additional health benefits or environmental protection' thereby focusing attention on the need for regulatory change. Furler, if fimding for the Hanford Site cleanup is constrained, as it almost surely wait be In an era of increasingly tight federal budgets, it wall become more Important to be able to optimize the cost/risk reduction ratio across the entire site.
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From page 49... ...
THE FIRST PHASE The first phase should include gathering the information needed to support a broad programmatic decision concerning disposition of the tank wastes and to implement the decision. As discussed earlier, important uncertainties are found In several key areas; cost and performance of necessary technologies, regulatory requirements, characteristics of He tank contents and the environment, and analysis of health and safety risks associated with He alternatives.
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From page 50... ...
The process, which wall involve close interaction with a range of stakeholder groups, wall provide a better basis of information for He second phase retrieval activities. The committee endorses the decision by DOE and He Washington State Department of Ecology to undertake an effort of tills the and recommends Hat the effort be included in the final Hanford TWRS environmental impact statement as an important part of the first-phase activities.
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From page 51... ...
Policy and Regulatory Uncertainties There is a need for ongoing coordination and discussion among DOE, He Washington State Depot trident of Ecology, and other regulatory agencies to address and resolve regulatory and policy uncertainties. The magnitude of the proposed action requires prudent consideration of potential regulatory changes.
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From page 52... ...
The mechanisms and rates of migration of cesium and other radionuclides ong~nat~ng from He tank farms and Tom other waste disposal facilities at He Hanford Site also need to be better understood. Range of Technologies DOE and the Washington State Department of Ecology are to be commended for considering in He DElS technologies that do not or may not meet current regulatory requirements.
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From page 53... ...
would be stabilized and contained by temporary physical barriers for perhaps 100 to I50 years to allow them to decay by an order of magnitude before remediation is undertaken. Interrelationships with Other Hanford Site Cleanup Decisions It is particularly important that He first tank cleanup phase be used to assess the interactions and interdependencies among the remediation actions descnbed in this DElS and the other related waste management and environmental remediation activities at He Hanford Site.
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From page 54... ...
2-22 to 2-23~. While the necessary technology development activities are underway, DOE should prepare a comprehensive plan for site-w~de cleanup and fixture land use to provide the needed context for decisions concerning specific projects such as environmental remediation of the tanks and related contaminated soils and ground water.
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From page 55... ...
Only limited consideration is given to the leaked wastes and past-practice units, the physical tanks themselves (as distinct from their contents) , and the ultimate fate of the products of the various remediation processes, including any repository to which the waste components are destined The Committee believes that unless systematic consideration is given to the entire tank-remediation program from now to the completion of all remediation, the analysis of broad program options will inevitably be inadequate, leading to distorted or perhaps erroneous input to decision-makers.
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