Baseline technology for Hanford tank waste

The author reviews the general baseline technology which is being looked at and considered at present for treatment of the tank wastes at Hanford. An environmental impact statement was completed in 1988 which looked at the treatment of the waste in the double walled tanks. This plan in its broadest sense looked at pretreatment of the wastes to separate the low level wastes from the high level wastes, with the low level wastes routed to grout disposal, and the high level waste to vitrification. The plan did not address the question of the waste in the single walled tanks. Since this time, the addition of the TRUEX process for further waste volume reduction has been approved, the viability of using the B plant for waste processing has been put in serious question, the disposition of the cesium and strontium capsules stored there has been considered, and the time table for addressing the single walled tank waste has been advanced for several reasons. The question of how existing technology fits into the final disposal needs is still open, and the issue of costs is a factor in how the goal of beginning to dispose of tank waste by the late 1990's is to be met. There is a need for new pretreatment technology to be developed, and then there is the problem of funding it, plant construction, and maintenance of the overall treatment program at the same time, for reasonable dollars