A history of Hanford tank waste, implications for waste treatment, and disposal

More than 40 years of plutonium processing have left almost 56 million gallons of mixed radioactive waste sequestered in 177 underground tanks on the Hanford Site. Three different processing technologies were employed for plutonium purification in addition to uranium scavenging and fission product removal from the tank waste. All of these chemical processes have contributed to a complex waste stream that varies from tank to tank that presents downstream processing challenges to render the waste into a safe form for long-term storage. The current disposition pathway for Hanford tank waste is vitrification. To maximize waste loading and minimize the number of high-level waste canisters stored in a geologic repository, pretreatment of the waste is required. Both pretreatment and vitrification operations are impacted by the waste composition.

Automated summary

This passage discusses the challenges of managing over 40 years' worth of mixed radioactive waste from plutonium processing at the Hanford Site, as well as the need for pretreatment and vitrification to minimize high-level waste storage. The complex waste stream resulting from chemical processes like plutonium purification, uranium scavenging, and fission product removal impacts downstream processing operations.