Tank Closure and Waste Management for the Hanford Site, Richland, WA

Abstract: The Hanford Site (Hanford), located in southeastern Washington State and situated along the Columbia River, is approximately 1,518 square kilometers (586 square miles) in size. Hanford’s mission from the early 1940s to approximately 1989 included defense-related nuclear research, development, and weapons production activities. These activities created a wide variety of chemical and radioactive wastes. Hanford’s mission now is focused on the cleanup of those wastes and ultimate closure of Hanford. To this end, several types of radioactive waste are being managed at Hanford: (1) high-level radioactive waste (HLW) as defined in DOE Manual 435.1-1; (2) transuranic (TRU) waste, which is waste containing alpha-particle-emitting radionuclides with atomic numbers greater than uranium (92) and half-lives greater than 20 years in concentrations greater than 100 nanocuries per gram of waste; (3) low-level radioactive waste (LLW), which is radioactive waste that is neither HLW nor TRU waste; and (4) mixed low-level radioactive waste (MLLW), which is LLW containing hazardous constituents as defined under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C 6901 et seq.).