Advancing Cleanup of the Hanford Site
Located along the Columbia River in the southeastern part of the Washington State, the 586-square-mile Hanford Site was created in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project producing plutonium for nuclear weapons during World War II and the Cold War.
Today, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions is responsible for reducing the environmental risk posed by 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste left over from plutonium production. Our commitment includes doing the job safely with a strong focus on innovation, employee involvement, and environmental protection.
Significant Accomplishments:
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Operating the Hanford Site’s first industrial-scale tank waste treatment system, with 440,000 gallons of chemical and radioactive tank waste staged and ready for vitrification.• Upgrading numerous facilities to support tank waste vitrification, or immobilization in glass.• Retrieving waste from the site’s 20th single-shell tank and transferring that waste to newer double-shell tanks for safer storage.• Installed pretreatment system to prepare tank waste for vitrification Completed waste retrieval from the first tank farm ever at Hanford• Treated about 440,000 gallons of tank waste through Tank Side Cesium Removal; it is staged and ready for vitrification.• Wrapping up upgrades at the Effluent Treatment Facility that are necessary for Direct Feed Low Activity Waste.• Retrieved approximately 35% of waste from Tank AX-101, the last of four SST in AX Farm to be retrieved. Currently balancing waste inventories in the DST system, making more room for additional transfers from AX-101, which has 395,000 gallons remaining.• Mobilization is underway for the U Tank Farm interim surface barrier. There are six barriers in five tank farms, meant to prevent rainwater from driving existing contamination toward the groundwater. The installation will be finished this summer.• Preparing to transition to the new Hanford Integrated Tank Disposition contractor, subject to DOE direction.• Maintained record as one of the safest companies in the DOE-EM complex
