The walls of Hanford's tanks are made of carbon steel, which the normally acidic radioactive wastes corrode. Most tanks at other sites are made of corrosion-resistant stainless steel. Consequently, more chemicals were added to Hanford's tanks to turn the wastes into alkaline solutions. That saved the tank walls, but created another chemical hurdle in glassifying wastes. Despite all these pitfalls, scientists, engineers and leaders in Hanford's glassification efforts believe the technical problems are solvable within DOE's timetables.
Financing is another story.
Nearly everyone involved sees money as the major stumbling block. Under privatization, BNFL and Lockheed put up their own money and borrow more from Wall Street investors. The federal government does not pay the companies until glass logs are produced in 2002. But Congress is leery about privatization. DOE is testing the concept at a plutonium cleanup project headed up by Lockheed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory.