DOE Meets TPA Milestone in the 300 Area

DOE News ReleaseMedia Contact: Cameron Hardy, DOE For Immediate Release:
(509) 376-5365, Cameron.Hardy@rl.doe.gov July 13, 2010Five Waste Sites, One Burial Ground Completed Ahead of Deadline

RICHLAND, WASH. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) met a Tri-Party Agreement Milestone three months early when contractors completed remediation of five waste sites and one burial ground recently in the 300 Area of the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State.

The active remediation of these waste sites helps Hanford get rid of sources of contamination to area groundwater, which can migrate to the Columbia River.

“We’re making tremendous strides in cleaning up the River Corridor -- the 300 Area is a great example of progress being made at Hanford. Cleaning up these contamination sources helps protect the Columbia River and reduce our footprint of active cleanup,” said Mark French, DOE’s Federal Project Director for the River Corridor Closure Project.

Washington Closure Hanford and its subcontractor Terranear PMC, removed more than 60,000 tons of waste as part of the remediation effort. The waste materials were then taken to Hanford’s engineered landfill, the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility.

The milestone required DOE to complete the remediation work for five 300 Area waste sites and the 618-1 Burial Ground. The waste sites included ground or building slabs that were contaminated with radioactive materials. The 618-1 Burial Ground was one of the earliest of Hanford’s burial grounds and contained waste materials resulting from the manufacture of fuel for Hanford’s plutonium production reactors.

Work began on the first waste site in September 2008 and remediation was complete on the final waste site in the series in September 2009. The milestone was documented by regulatory agencies to be complete in mid-June of 2010, beating the Sept. 30, 2010 deadline by three months.

The 300 Area was historically used for fuel manufacturing, development, and fuel processing research and development. Because of the experimental nature of the work performed in the 300 Area crews must take extra precautions in case anomalies or unexpected waste materials are found.