(446a) Visualization of 35+ Years of Data from the Doe Hanford Nuclear Reservation Site and the Associated Applications for Informing Key Tank Waste Treatment and Disposal Decisions

Big data sets are both voluminous and complex and arise from any single, or a confluence of, large spans (e.g., decades) of data, high frequency data collected over brief intervals (e.g., hours, days, weeks), and/or sophisticated suites of measurement devices and instrumentation (e.g., dozens of instruments) operating and collecting information in parallel and/or sequence. Inherently these large data sets are collected and stored in different forms and formats and access to the data may vary across and among organizations based on access to hardware and software programs, all while multiple authoritative data sources could represent overlapping data information. Therefore, a key challenge becomes integrating this disparate data and eliciting both its value and veracity.

As the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Nuclear Reservation Site, in Richland, Washington, and its contractors (e.g., Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) LLC and Bechtel National Inc.) move towards the start-up of Direct Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) mission operations for the retrieval, treatment, and disposition of tank waste, assuring regulatory compliance must also factor into strategic decisions. As such, key personnel and stakeholders across the Hanford complex (contractors, DOE Office of River Protection (ORP), national laboratories, regulatory agencies, etc.) must have access to a consistently derived set of tank waste characterization data. A strategic suite of Tableau tools has been developed and implemented through the collaborations of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), WRPS, and ORP to more efficiently and consistently enable access and visualization to a common derived “standard” data set and related information to appropriately inform key decisions like technological investments, process decisions, and regulatory actions.

This presentation will showcase several Tableau tools, in the suite, which have been designed and implemented to help inform key decisions associated with the treatment and disposal of Hanford tank waste. While this subset of tools serve as direct demonstrations of the capability needs today, they additionally facilitate the illustration of the breadth, flexibility, and success with this methodology including aspects of data provenance, traceability, and review processes.