THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE
Division on Earth and Life Studies
Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board
Committee on Supplemental Treatment of Low-Activity Waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
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Congressional Briefing
Tue, Feb 18, 2020 228 Russell Senate Office Bldg. – 1:00 p.m.
on
Final Review of the Study on Supplemental Treatment Approaches of Low-Activity Waste
at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation: Review #4
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management is responsible for managing and cleaning up the waste and contamination at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the nation's biggest and most complex nuclear cleanup challenge. At the site, 177 underground tanks collectively contain about 211 million liters of waste that includes high-activity and low-activity materials.
Requested by Congress in P.L. 114-328, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, this fourth and final report, from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, focuses on approaches for treatment and disposal of the supplemental portion of the low-activity waste from the tanks. This review report discusses developments since the publication of Review #3 and provides a summary of public comments on the third committee review report. The authoring committee then shares their views on these comments and whether they change any of the findings or recommendations in the third review report. (Reviews #1 and #2 can be found at these links.)
This briefing was for members of Congress and congressional staff only. The report was publicly released on February 21, 2020 and can be found, in its entirety, on the Web site of the National Academies Press.