Ion exchange columns filled with cesium sit on a storage pad near the Tank-Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) System at the Hanford Site. Legacy radiological and chemical waste is pumped through TSCR and into an underground waste-storage tank before being tested to ensure it meets the acceptance criteria for immobilization in glass, called vitrification, at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.
On March 8, 2024, EM awarded $29.3 million for research and development to accelerate the Hanford Site's tank waste cleanup mission. The 13 funded projects are led by six national laboratories.
List of Funded Projects:
Savannah River National Laboratory
- Integrity Monitoring and Assessment, Prediction, Repair, and Corrosion Control of the Hanford Storage Tanks
- Efficient Electrochemical Denitration and Caustic Generation System for Direct-Feed Waste Pretreatment to Accelerate the Hanford Mission and Operations
- Direct Stabilization of Low-Activity Waste with Advanced Engineered Cellular Magmatics
- Technoeconomic Optimization of Hanford Tank Waste: A Data Driven Approach to Inventory, Logistics and Disposition
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- Enabling High-Level Waste Sludge Delivery Through In-tank Processing in the Southeast Quadrant of the Hanford Tank Farms
- Expand High-Level Waste Glass Processing Envelope
- Developing a Hanford Grout Modeling Framework and Property Database for Performance Assessments
- Real-time Liquid/Slurry Waste Sampling & Analysis: With User Interface for Comprehensive Data and Uncertainty Analysis
- The Surface Chemistry of Plutonium Oxide for Waste Pretreatment
- Digitally Optimized Autonomous Guided Vehicles for Hanford Waste Tank Handling
Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Dry Retrieval of Tank Waste
- Real-Time In-Line Monitoring for Hanford Tank Waste Treatment
- Improved Fundamental Understanding of Aluminum Chemistry and Interactions of Aluminate Anion with Co-Anions: Applications to In-tank and At-tank Pretreatment of Hanford Tank High-Level Waste Sludge
SOLICITATION BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
On June 7, 2023, EM announced its solicitation of proposals from national laboratories for research and technology development projects that could be used to improve efficiency, reduce lifecycle cost and accelerate the schedule for the Hanford tank waste mission.
Two information webinars were conducted (recorded sessions linked below) to: (1) discuss the amendment of the lab call; (2) provide additional information about ongoing EM headquarters and site-funded Hanford tank waste research and development projects as well as relevant Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) programs; and (3) address questions that national laboratories may have concerning the amended lab call.
The deadline for proposals was Oct. 16, 2023.
SOLICitation related documents:
On June 9, 2023, the Office of Environmental Management held an Informational Webinar for DOE National Laboratories to learn about the Program Announcement (LAB-23-EM001) Hanford Tank Waste R&D funding opportunity. Jeffrey Avery, Department of Energy Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Environmental Management (EM), provided introduction remarks. Ming Zhu, EM Senior Advisor for Lab Policy, provided the presentation and answered questions.
