Hanford Site Achieves Annual Waste Repackaging Goal

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM Richland Operations Office cleanup contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) reduced 500 cubic meters of waste to just 122 cubic meters for safe interim storage at the Hanford Site to meet its waste repackaging goal for fiscal 2019.

Workers shipped the legacy waste, including gloveboxes and other large waste containers, to an off-site facility for size-reduction and repackaging. Gloveboxes are structures with ports containing gloves that allow waste handlers to safely work with radioactive material. The waste was then returned to the Hanford Site for storage at the Central Waste Complex (CWC).

“Reducing the risk of legacy waste in storage is a high priority for the Department of Energy,” said Mark French, RL project director. “Recognizing this, workers were able to accomplish their annual repackaging goal ahead of schedule.”

Currently, 68 boxes of repackaged waste are safely stored at CWC awaiting eventual shipment to EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for permanent disposal.

“I’m proud of our team’s focus over the past year on maintaining a safe and steady approach to this important work,” said Kalli Shupe, CHPRC vice president for the waste and fuels management project. “The waste shipment activities have truly been a team effort and is the result of excellent communication and collaboration between our workers, labor, DOE, and the regulators.”