The US's historic Hanford site, and accelerated decommissioning

The Hanford site in the US has a history dating back to the 1940s when it was established as part of the Manhattan Project. Plutonium was produced at the site, with the last reactor shut down in 1971. The legacy is the Hanford Tank Farms, which is a collection of 177 underground waste storage tanks. In this episode we hear from Karthik Subramanian, Chief Engineer and Innovation Director for Hanford Tank Waste Operations Closure, about the history of the site and the clean-up work taking place.

Also taking part is his Amentum colleague Mike Houghton, Vice President of the Environment Division within Energy and Environment International, with the discussion covering the need to rethink the view that sites which need decommissioning are liabilities, and instead focus on the opportunities for future uses for the sites. Linked to this is the idea of accelerated decommissioning, where these potentially valuable sites (often perfect, for instance, for new nuclear) can have their value unlocked sooner. One result of this change of outlook for sites, would be to attract likely new opportunities for private finance in the decommissioning process. 

Key links to find out more:

The Hanford Site
Amentum
New lease of life for US legacy nuclear sites
Heating begins at Hanford radioactive waste treatment plant
World Nuclear News

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Episode credit:  Presenter Alex Hunt. Co-produced and mixed by Pixelkisser Production