Our Nuclear Waste Program regulates other sites with mixed (radioactive and hazardous chemical) waste in Washington that aren't part of the Hanford cleanup.
Click on the tabs to find out more about the facilities, and read about the US Ecology disposal site below.
Framatome
Framatome (formerly AREVA NP Inc.) is a French-owned company that operates a plant in Richland. The company makes nuclear fuel assemblies for commercial nuclear reactors located all over the world. The plant, in operation since 1972, employs about 600 people and is operated under a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
We regulate the plant's temporary storage of mixed waste that results from its operations until they are shipped offsite to an approved disposal facility. The current permit was issued in February 2010 and will remain in effect until February 2020. (Photo courtesy Framatome)
View the Permit Columbia Generating Station
The Columbia Generating Station is located on land leased at the Hanford site and is the Northwest’s only nuclear energy facility. The plant consists of a boiling water reactor and uses nuclear fission to heat water into high-pressure steam.
The facility is owned and operated by Energy Northwest, an agency that develops, owns, and operates power facilities in Washington. We work with the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC), a Washington state agency led by a chair appointed by theGovernor, to oversee the nuclear power plant. (Photo courtesy Energy Northwest)
Perma-Fix Northwest
Perma-Fix Northwest is a waste storage and treatment facility specializing in treating low-level and mixed low-level waste. We regulate the mixed waste stored and treated at the facility, consisting of waste from Hanford and other in-state or out-of-state mixed waste generators.
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
We oversee the permit for storage of dangerous and mixed waste at the U.S. Navy's Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. The shipyard is a home port for both active and inactive vessels, and is used to maintain, overhaul, decommission, and dismantle vessels in service of the United States Navy.
Dangerous and mixed waste is generated during laboratory analysis, on-site demolition, and from production work including removal and installation of components on vessels, on-vessel and off-vessel repair of components, and the decommissioning and dismantling of vessels. (Photo courtesy Puget Sound Naval Shipyard)
US Ecology, Inc.
US Ecology is a disposal facility that is licensed by the state of Washington to receive commercial low-level radioactive waste. Located in the center of the Hanford site, the facility operates on 100 acres of land leased to the state by the federal government.
The US Ecology site is a waste landfill that has been in operation since 1965. Before 1993, the landfill accepted low-level radioactive waste from across the United States. Since that time, the facility has restricted disposal to waste originating in the eight states of the Northwest Interstate Compact (Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) and the three states of the Rocky Mountain Compact (Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico). The Washington State Department of Health oversees operations and facility closure.
Model Toxics Control Act study
The older parts of the facility contain chemical waste that was intermingled with radioactive waste before disposal practices were changed. An investigation under the Model Toxics Control Act, Washington’s environmental cleanup law, has been underway since 1999 to study the extent of the site's contamination, and to develop a remedial action to protect people's health and the environment. As we investigate chemical contamination at the site, we're coordinating with the state Department of Health to put a protective cover on older trenches that have been filled and are no longer being used for disposal.
Contact information
Stephanie Schleif
Permits for Framatome (formerly AREVA), Columbia Generating Station, Perma-Fix Northwest, and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
Hanford@ecy.wa.gov
509-372-7950
Theresa Howell
US Ecology
Hanford@ecy.wa.gov
509-372-7950