No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2011
The Hanford Immobilized Low-Activity Waste Performance Assessment[1] examines the longterm environmental and human health effects associated with the planned disposal of the vitrified low-activity fraction of waste presently contained in Hanford Site tanks. The tank waste is the byproduct of separating special nuclear materials from irradiated nuclear fuels over the past 50 years. This waste is stored in underground single- and double-shell tanks. The tank waste is to be retrieved, separated into low-activity and high-level fractions, and then immobilized by vitrification. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plans to dispose of the low-activity fraction in the Hanford Site 200 East Area. The high-level fraction will be stored at the Hanford Site until a national repository is approved.
This report provides the site-specific long-term environmental information needed by the DOE to modify the current Disposal Authorization Statement for the Hanford Site[2]. The original Disposition Authorization Statement was based on the 1998 version[3] of this performance assessment, which was conditionally accepted by DOE [4].
The calculations in this performance assessment show that a “reasonable expectation” exists that the disposal of the immobilized low-level fraction of tank waste from the Hanford Site can meet environmental and health performance objectives. As shown by the sensitivity studies, this conclusion remains valid despite the conceptual designs of the disposal facility and the ILAW packaging having undergone changes.