NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competence and with regard for appropriate balance.

Support for this study was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy under cooperative agreement number DE-FC01-99EW59049. All opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Cover. Remote-handled transuranic waste re-packaging operations in a “hot cell” at Battelle Columbus Laboratories-West Jefferson North Campus. From top to bottom: a robotic manipulator arm transfers several pool filters into a new container and closes the lid. In the background: picture of sludge at the bottom of the K-Basins at the Hanford Site. The sludge will be removed and pieces larger than 0.25 inches will be separated. The sludge, which is expected to be remote-handled transuranic waste, will be solidified while the larger pieces will be handled as debris waste. The debris could be transuranic or low-level waste.