Evaluating Operational Irregularities at Hanford's Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility

This paper describes the findings of an independent technical review that investigated operational irregularities at the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF) at Hanford. The ERDF is a large-scale disposal facility authorized by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington State Department of Ecology to receive waste from Hanford cleanup activities. The irregularities included (i) failure to recognize that pumps for the leachate collection system were not functioning for an extended period and (ii) falsification of compaction data by a technician responsible for monitoring waste placement in the ERDF. Other issues related to compaction of the waste were also considered during the independent technical review. A number of important lessons were learned as part of this review. These lessons are summarized in the paper. They are relevant to the ERDF as well as other landfill operations at Department of Energy facilities. (authors)