Grout Facilities standby plan

This plan defines how the Grout Facilities will be deactivated to meet the intent of the recently renegotiated Tri-Party Agreement (TPA). The TPA calls for the use of the grout process as an emergency option only in the event that tank space is not available to resolve tank safety issues. The availability of new tanks is expected by 1997. Since a grout startup effort would take an estimated two years, a complete termination of the Grout Disposal Program is expected in December 1995. The former Tank Waste Remediation (TWRS) Strategy, adopted in 1988, called for the contents of Hanford's 28 newer double-shell waste tanks to be separated into high-level radioactive material to be vitrified and disposed of in a geologic repository; low-level wastes were to be sent to the Grout Facility to be made into a cement-like-mixture and poured into underground vaults at Hanford for disposal. The waste in the 149 older single-shell tanks (SST) were to undergo further study and analysis before a disposal decision was made