ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A panel discussion at the recent National Cleanup Workshop highlighted the importance of new technologies and other fresh approaches to tackle high-level tank waste challenges.
Panelists included Kevin Smith, manager of the EM Office of River Protection (ORP) at Hanford; Dr. Terry Michalske, director of EM’s Savannah River National Laboratory ; Karthik Subramanian, chief technology officer at Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions; and Kara Colton, director of nuclear energy programs for the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA), which represents local communities near DOE sites.
The communities, regions, and states have no greater priority than the disposition of waste - high-level waste in particular, according to Colton. She referenced a recent ECA report calling for DOE to create a new waste management approach.
“The report outlines five near-term actions that we think can help EM save $40 billion…and move waste out of our communities more efficiently using a risk-based approach," Colton said.
The panelists agreed that new techniques are needed to help manage and treat Hanford’s mix of low-activity and high-level tank waste.
“We need a science-based approach to dispositioning [of the waste]," Subramanian said. “If we are able to do that on a constituent-based disposition, that kind of science-based approach will open up a lot of opportunities while maintaining a safe environmental disposition."
Subramanian stressed that industry partners need to incorporate new ideas into current cleanup contracts.
Michalske said technology development must be part of the culture and expectation.
“Think of the national laboratories as the world’s largest scientific engineering operations," Michalske said. “We probably have expertise in almost anything you can imagine."
Smith emphasized the importance of technology and the EM National Laboratory Network, which links the capabilities of DOE national laboratories supporting the agency’s nuclear cleanup mission.
“What was not possible yesterday might be possible today with the advancement of tech and other opportunities. EM has gotten a little disconnected from the national lab network and using that talent to boost our ability to address technical issues is a great opportunity to expand our mission," Smith said. “Way too often we default to the most conservative approach and we find ourselves with a stack of conservatisms which we think are the most cost effective but some level of risk acceptance is healthy to accomplishment."
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
