The Department of Energy's site at Hanford has significantly accelerated the characterization of transuranic (TRU) waste and its subsequent shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)--from a total of two shipments in fiscal year 2002 to twelve shipments per month. The challenges encountered and experience gained in achieving this acceleration provide valuable lessons that can be used by others in the waste industry. Lessons learned as well as estimates of cost savings and schedule benefits are described. At the start of the acceleration effort, three separate facilities managed by multiple organizations characterized and handled the drums. To consolidate the majority of these activities under one organization and in one facility required RCRA permit and safety basis modifications. and a myriad of construction activities--but all with very visible benefit. Transferring drums between the separate facilities involved multiple organizations, and required meeting a complex set of transportation and safety basis requirements. Consolidating characterization activities into a single facility greatly simplified this process, realizing very significant operational efficiencies. Drums stockpiled in buildings for future processing previously were stored with recognition of physical, chemical, and radiological hazards, but without consideration for future processing. Drums are now stored using a modular approach so that feed for characterization processing takes drums from the accessible module face rather than randomly throughout the storage building. This approach makes drum handling more efficient, minimizes the potential for worker injuries, and supports the principles of 'as low as reasonably achievable' (ALARA) exposure from the waste. Sampling the headspace gas of the TRU waste packages was a major bottleneck in the characterization process, and hence an obstacle to acceleration.
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