West Area Tank Farms Risk Management - Construction Services

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Hanford Field Office (HFO), is dedicated to retrieving and treating Hanford’s tank waste and closing the Tank Farms to safeguard the Columbia River. Currently, mixed radioactive waste is stored in 177 underground tanks at the Hanford Site, as documented in DOE 2003-02, Environmental Impact Statement for Retrieval, Treatment, and Disposal of Tank Waste and Closure of Single-Shell Tanks at the Hanford Site, Richland, WA.

These tanks contain approximately 54 million gallons of waste, consisting of solids (sludge), liquids (supernate), and saltcake (salts formed through evaporation processes). The mission need statement for the West Area Tank Farms Risk Management (WARM) Project, approved by DOE, recognizes the operational sequencing challenges at Hanford, with the lack of waste pretreatment and transfer capabilities in the 200 West Area.

To address these challenges and optimize waste processing, WARM is being constructed to supply material for off-site treatment and disposal, supporting compliance with regulatory milestones and environmentally sound waste disposal. The WARM Project has been authorized by the Department of Energy as a capital project in accordance with DOE O 413.3B Program and Project Management for the Acquisition of Capital Assets.