Cost of Hanford plant could top $10 billion

RICHLAND — The cost to build a waste-treatment plant at the Hanford nuclear reservation in south-central Washington could top $10 billion, according to a new report.

In addition, the plant would not be ready to begin treating toxic and radioactive waste until 2017, six years after the legal deadline.

The cost and schedule estimates were contained in a 44,000-page report prepared by Bechtel National, the contractor hired to build the plant.

The so-called vitrification plant has long been considered the cornerstone of Hanford cleanup. The plant is being designed to convert millions of gallons of radioactive waste into a stable glass form for permanent disposal in a nuclear-waste repository.

The waste is being stored in underground tanks, some of which have leaked into the aquifer, threatening the Columbia River.

A 2004 report showed that the Energy Department had underestimated the impact a severe earthquake might have on the plant. That report — coupled with the rising costs for labor and materials and technological problems — prompted the government to halt construction on major portions of the plant last fall.