Tank Waste Retrieval, Processing, and On-site Disposal at Three Department of Energy Sites

Final Report
Concludes that the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) overall plan for cleaning up defense-related radioactive wastes stored in underground tanks at three sites is workable, but some important challenges must be overcome. This report offers several detailed recommendations to improve the technical soundness of DOE’s tank cleanup plans.
DOE Tank Waste: How clean is clean enough? The U.S. Congress asked the National Academies to evaluate the Department of Energya (TM)s (DOEa (TM)s) plans for cleaning up defense-related radioactive wastes stored in underground tanks at three sites: the Hanford Site in Washington State, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, and the Idaho National Laboratory. DOE plans to remove the waste from the tanks, separate out high-level radioactive waste to be shipped to an off-site geological repository, and dispose of the remaining lower-activity waste onsite. The report concludes that DOEa (TM)s overa