River Protection Project (RPP) System Plan

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of River Protection (ORP) is responsible for the retrieval, treatment, and disposal of the radioactive wastes contained in the Hanford Site waste tanks, and closure of all the tanks and associated facilities. Currently, the ORP is committed to completing the treatment of all the tank wastes by 2028, and closure of all facilities by 2034. The current strategy for completion of the mission uses a number of interrelated activities. The ORP will reduce risk to the environment posed by tank wastes by: (1) Removing pumpable liquids remaining in single-shell tanks (SSTs) to the extent practical (will be completed in 2004); (2) Retrieving wastes remaining in SSTs to double-shell tanks (DSTs) for staging to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), or directly to transuranic (TRU) packaging or supplemental treatment; (3) Aggressively managing DST space so that the retrieval and closure of SSTs can be accelerated to maximize overall risk reduction; (4) Constructing and operating the WTP which will pretreat and immobilize the most hazardous wastes contained in tank farms, and maximizing its capability and capacity; (5) Deploying packaging capabilities for tank waste that is TRU for shipment and disposal in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP); (6) Developing and deploying supplemental treatment capacity that can safely treat and immobilize a significant fraction of the low-activity waste (LAW) contained in tank farms; (7) Disposing of immobilized low-activity waste (ILAW) in an integrated facility on site; and (8) Closing SST and DST tank farms, ancillary facilities, and all waste management and treatment facilities. The ORP has established contracts to implement this strategy to accelerate overall risk reduction and establish a basic capability to complete the overall mission. Major decisions regarding the supplemental treatment technology, the ultimate needed capacity, and its relationship to the WTP have not yet been made. A major programmatic decision point has been established in 2005 that will determine the ultimate deployment strategy for supplemental treatment versus additional capacity added to the WTP. This System Plan investigates the impacts of potential innovations associated with the WTP ILAW facility; and alternative configurations of supplemental treatment.