Privatized treatment of Hanford tank wastes - Open issues
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory P.O. Box 999 Richland, WA 99352 (United States)
- U.S. Department of Energy, P.O. Box, 550 Richland, WA 99352 (United States)
- U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20585 (United States)
- Preston Gates, 1745 New York Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20006 (United States)
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has entered into a contract with BNFL, Inc. (BNFL) for treatment and immobilization of the highly radioactive wastes stored in underground tasks at Hanford. This contract provides for 'privatized' treatment in the sense that such treatment will be completed under a fixed-price contract using a contractor-owned and -operated facility. BNFL has completed the first half of a 24-month design period that will end in August 2000. At that point DOE will decide whether to authorize BNFL to proceed to the construction and operations period of the contract. Several issues need to be resolved as part of the process for preparing for that decision. This paper discusses a number of these issues, including how the project will be financed, whether cost savings are likely to be realized under this contract, stakeholder support for proceeding, DoE's ability to manage this contract, and DoE's ability to obtain the required funding from Congress. Resolution of the issues identified in this paper will require DOE to achieve two goals. The first goal is to ensure that the Office of River Protection, which is responsible for this project, has the organization, staff, and management processes in place needed to successfully integrate and manage this and other elements of the River Protection Project. DOE must also be able to make a convincing case to Congress and others that this goal has been reached. The second goal that DOE must achieve is to determine whether proceeding with whatever final agreement is negotiated with BNFL is likely to be a cost-effective approach for completing the work. As is the case for the management goal, DOE must also be able to make a convincing case to Congress and others that this second goal has been achieved. Substantial progress has been made toward accomplishment of these goals, but much work remains to be completed before a determination can be made that it is appropriate to proceed to the construction and operations period of the contract.
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 23142068
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Global'99: International Conference on Future Nuclear Systems - Nuclear Technology - Bridging the Millennia, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 29 Aug - 3 Sep 1999; Other Information: Country of input: France; 3 refs.; available from American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (US)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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