DOE wants the state to give the federal agency some slack if Congress does not provide all the needed money, or it wants to be able to renegotiate deadlines if funding and technical pitfalls prove unavoidable, Klein and Boston said. DOE needs to study Fitzsimmons' final determination documents before it decides whether to accept the decision or to appeal to the state pollution control hearings board or to federal court, Boston said. DOE has until April 28 to make that decision. Also Wednesday, Fitzsimmons made a second final determination to make DOE speed up Hanford's inventory of hazardous and mixed wastes and plan how to treat those wastes not otherwise covered by a Tri-Party Agreement timetable. Hazardous wastes are dangerous chemicals.
Mixed wastes combine chemical and radioactive wastes.
The state has wanted DOE to expand its annual reports on hazardous and mixed wastes to cover inventorying and producing plans to treat them. Fitzsimmons gave DOE until April 2001 to do so. Boston said his initial impression is DOE can meet that deadline. DOE has been willing to expand its annual reports but could not get those all upgrades done by the state's previous target of April 2000, he said. Copyright 2000 Tri-City Herald.