DOE Announces Decision on Waste Tanks at SRS

Paraphrased by Steve Waldrop
August 23, 2002

Columbia, SC- The U.S. Energy Department has decided to leave radioactive residual waste in aging storing tanks at the Savannah River Site. Using the Stabilize Tanks and Fill with Grout technology, DOE proposes to close 49 high-level waste tanks and associated waste handling equipment, including evaporators, pumps, diversion boxes, and transfer lines to ensure protection of human health and the environment.

The agency said it will save millions of dollars with the decision.

Filling the tanks, which are 45 feet high and contain about 37 million gallons of highly radioactive waste, with concrete grout will cost about $4 million per tank. But getting rid of the tanks would cost $100 million per container, DOE spokeswoman Julie Petersen said.

An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) analyzed and evaluated the potential environmental impacts of three alternatives for additional closures of high-level waste tanks at SRS: (1) Stabilize Tanks; (2) Clean and Remove Tanks; and (3) No Action. Under the Stabilize Tanks alternative, DOE considered three options for Tank Stabilization: Fill with Grout (preferred alternative); Fill with Sand; or Fill with Saltstone.

The agency said in its record of decision that removing the tanks would protect the environment better than filling the tanks, but the difference would be small.

DOE officials have already decided to pump most of the waste in the tanks to an SRS facility that converts the material into glass for storage.

The waste is some of the deadliest at the former nuclear weapons complex. DOE spokesman Rick Ford said it's more immediately dangerous to a person than the weapons grade plutonium coming from a Rocky Flats facility in Colorado.

But some say leaving any high-level waste in the tanks is dangerous because the material could leak and pollute the environment.