After decades of work and billions invested at the nation’s most complex cleanup site, Governor Bob Ferguson and the Washington State Department of Ecology have announced that nuclear waste is now being moved from deteriorating underground tanks and turned into glass for safe disposal at Hanford’s Low-Activity Waste Facility near the Tri-Cities.
The nuclear waste is being fed into a plant called the Low-Activity Waste Facility. It is one of the most unique and complex facilities in the world. Once inside, the waste goes through melters that turn it into glass – a highly stable material that can be safely stored for thousands of years.
For more than 25 years, Ecology has overseen the design, construction, environmental testing, and startup of the Low-Activity Waste Facility. Recently, Ecology issued a final operating permit and approval to the Department of Energy, authorizing waste treatment to begin after successful environmental testing. The permit ensures the plant’s operations are protective of human health and the environment, outlining the parameters at which the facility can safely operate.
The Washington State Department of Health issued eight radioactive air emissions licenses to ensure operations at the Waste Treatment Plant met all health and safety standards to protect Washington residents.
The Low-Activity Waste Facility is part of the larger Waste Treatment Plant at Hanford. Workers poured the first yard of concrete in June 2002, following more than a decade of planning by Ecology and Energy. The plant’s commissioning process began in 2023, as the first “melter” unit began to heat up to prepare for its eventual role turning waste into glass.
Now that operations have begun, Energy and its contractors will continue work to reach full operations at the plant over the next few months. As this process unfolds, Ecology will continue its regulatory oversight and issue its final permit for full operations. Treating all of Hanford’s tank waste will take decades and additional facilities and infrastructure.
