Since that time, the Department has been committed to remediation and waste management to decrease potential risks to the site's work force, the public, and the environment. In 1989, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Washington State Department of Ecology entered into the Tri-Party Agreement, a formal agreement to reach compliance for major waste streams managed at the Hanford Site. The agreement currently provides a schedule for site activities and focuses on backlog waste that must be addressed by the Waste Management program. However, Milestone 33 of the Tri-Party Agreement requires submission of reports to assist in defining how newly generated waste, including Nuclear Material and Facility Stabilization and Environmental Restoration generated waste, will be sent to the Waste Management program for treatment or disposal. Once these reports are completed, dialogue on setting milestones for newly generated waste will begin.
Environmental contamination is found in surface and subsurface soils.
Prior to 1970, solid waste contaminated with hazardous chemicals, plutonium, or low-level waste was disposed in burial trenches. The burial trenches continued to be used for waste with hazardous chemicals from 1970 to 1986. After 1970, most of the plutonium-contaminated waste was placed into partially lined underground vaults or surface trenches designed for easier retrieval. Hanford also has sites in which packaged, low-level radioactive and hazardous waste is buried. These packages include drums, boxes, and bags.