Transuranic (TRU) Waste
Safely Retrieving and Disposing of Radioactive Legacy Materials
Transuranic (TRU) waste contains man-made radioactive elements heavier than uranium, such as plutonium, americium, and neptunium.
At Hanford, TRU waste includes:
Tools and equipment
Protective clothing
Laboratory instruments
Other materials used during decades of plutonium production
Historical Storage
In the 1970s and 1980s, more than 70,000 containers of TRU waste were placed in the 200 Area Low-Level Burial Grounds.
Because the plan was to eventually retrieve the waste once a national repository became available, storage trenches were designed for accessibility:
Drums stacked in layers on asphalt pads
Separated by plywood and covered with tarps
Topped with soil for containment
Permanent Disposal at WIPP
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico, opened in 1999 as the nation’s permanent disposal facility for TRU waste.
Since then, Hanford has:
Shipped 649 loads (about 59,000 drums) to WIPP
Completed much of this work in the early 2010s with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding
Preparing for the Next Campaign
In 2026, Hanford resumed transuranic waste certification in preparation for future shipments to WIPP. Contact-handled TRU waste shipments are scheduled to resume by Sept. 30, 2028. Preparing waste for disposal includes:
Uncovering stored drums and inspecting their condition
Overpacking damaged or corroded containers to prevent spills
Characterizing the waste to meet WIPP’s acceptance criteria
Verifying compliance with WIPP’s waste acceptance criteria, including checks for prohibited items
Measuring TRU element concentration to confirm classification
Packaging for safe transport to WIPP
Projected Shipments
The upcoming retrieval program is expected to result in over 1,200 shipments of TRU waste from Hanford to WIPP.