Tank Cleanup at Defense Sites Will Leave Radioactive Waste
Tank Cleanup at Defense Sites Will Leave Radioactive Waste: "Tank Cleanup at Defense Sites Will Leave Radioactive Waste
WASHINGTON, DC, April 6, 2006 (ENS) - High-level radioactive material will remain in nuclear waste the Department of Energy plans to dispose of at its Savannah River Site in South Carolina, warns a new report from the National Research Council on cleanup of waste in underground tanks at three defense sites. It is not practical to remove all of the waste from the tanks, the committee of authors acknowleged.
Saying that the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) overall plan for cleaning up the radioactive waste in 246 underground tanks at the three sites is 'workable,' the committee expressed concern about the 'large volume of radioactive material' that DOE plans to place in saltstone vaults at Savannah River, and other issues of safety and reliability at all three sites.
Fifty-one of the tanks are located at the Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site in South Carolina. There are 177 tanks situated at the Hanford Site in Washington state, and 11 tanks and seven calcine vaults at the Idaho National Laboratory.
In total, they contain more than 93 million of gallons of high-level radioactive waste from over 40 years of making plutonium for America's nuclear weapons.
The DOE plans to remove the waste from the tanks and separate out high-level radioactive waste, which will eventually be shipped to an off-site geological repository, such as the site at Yucca Mountain, Mountain, which is still in the pre-permitting stage.
The remaining radioactive waste will be disposed of on-site, and residual waste in the tanks will be covered by grout.
So far, only two of the 246 tanks have been cleaned out and backfilled with grout, and none has had a permanent cover installed."
WASHINGTON, DC, April 6, 2006 (ENS) - High-level radioactive material will remain in nuclear waste the Department of Energy plans to dispose of at its Savannah River Site in South Carolina, warns a new report from the National Research Council on cleanup of waste in underground tanks at three defense sites. It is not practical to remove all of the waste from the tanks, the committee of authors acknowleged.
Saying that the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) overall plan for cleaning up the radioactive waste in 246 underground tanks at the three sites is 'workable,' the committee expressed concern about the 'large volume of radioactive material' that DOE plans to place in saltstone vaults at Savannah River, and other issues of safety and reliability at all three sites.
Fifty-one of the tanks are located at the Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site in South Carolina. There are 177 tanks situated at the Hanford Site in Washington state, and 11 tanks and seven calcine vaults at the Idaho National Laboratory.
In total, they contain more than 93 million of gallons of high-level radioactive waste from over 40 years of making plutonium for America's nuclear weapons.
The DOE plans to remove the waste from the tanks and separate out high-level radioactive waste, which will eventually be shipped to an off-site geological repository, such as the site at Yucca Mountain, Mountain, which is still in the pre-permitting stage.
The remaining radioactive waste will be disposed of on-site, and residual waste in the tanks will be covered by grout.
So far, only two of the 246 tanks have been cleaned out and backfilled with grout, and none has had a permanent cover installed."
posted by Greta Jane at Tuesday, April 11, 2006
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