RICHLAND, Wash. — The U.S. Department of Energy announced it will move forward with solidifying tank waste at the Hanford Facility.
According to a press release from the DOE, the decommissioned nuclear waste site has begun operations at the Low-Activity Waste Facility.
This new facility will turn low-activity nuclear waste into glass through a process called vitrification, which has been used since the 1980s.
Vitrification is considered an effective way to neutralize low-activity radioactive waste.
Today, the Hanford Site houses nine deactivated reactors and contains about 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste.
Initially opened in 1944, Hanford was once an active nuclear facility. It’s home to the first full-scale plutonium production reactor, built to meet the country’s need for plutonium during the final stages of World War II and throughout the Cold War.
The site played a pivotal role in the Manhattan Project.
In 1989, Washington State reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin cleanup of the site.
Currently, $3 billion in funding is being used for the cleanup effort.