Hanford will need almost $26 million in its fiscal 2000 budget to tackle proposed scientific studies of underground contamination outlined in a draft Hanford report released Monday.

Overall, the plan calculates Hanford needs an estimated $103.3 million from now through September 2003 to fill gaps in Hanford's knowledge of how quickly and in what amounts and which contaminants seep through the ground to reach the Columbia River.

The new report has been nearly a year in the making.

The Department of Energy plans to accept public comments on the draft through March 12 before revising it. Public workshop sessions are planned but not yet scheduled.

Also, an independent advisory panel of scientists plan to discuss the draft publicly Feb. 1-3 in Richland.

Ultimately, this plan will stretch out for many years, with regular revisions.

Hanford is plagued by massive amounts of radioactive and non-radioactive contaminants that seep through the ground in a little- understood mix of subterranean plumes. Many have reached the aquifer, with some already seeping into the river.

Hanford has several uncoordinated programs studying or trying to fix parts of the problem.

To prepare for a unified attempt to manage the problem, DOE and Bechtel Hanford Inc., put together the draft master plan.

Monday's document also identifies areas where not enough is known to allow detailed planning.

The highly technical list of the gaps and the studies to fill them is long.

The studies include designing and running specialized computer analysis programs on numerous issues, collecting soil and liquid samples, testing those samples, calculating volumes of contaminants, researching fix-it measures and studying the Columbia River.

To tackle all of this, the report estimates $11.87 million will be needed in fiscal 1999, which is already three months old.

Then, $25.9 million is estimated to be needed in fiscal 2000, $23.94 million in 2001, $21.11 million in 2002 and $20.38 million in 2003.

Most of this will be an addition to existing programs to study tank leaks, oozing contaminants, maintaining monitoring wells and pumping and treating the contaminants.

In fiscal 1999, Hanford already has $29.67 million earmarked for the existing programs.

A major question is how much of all the additional recommended work actually will get funded.

Hanford's budget is expected to remain at a stable $1 billion to $1.1 billion for the next few years.

And numerous Hanford problems and programs are competing for slices of that budget, which already is universally considered not large enough to handle all of Hanford problems in a timely fashion.

Expensive programs at the tank farms and K Basins are Hanford's top-priority projects.

Consequently, everything else -including these proposed studies - are competing for the remaining money. And much of the lower-priority work is not expected to get funded in fiscal 2000.

There is much debate in Hanford circles on where subterranean and river contamination programs should rank.

The discussion likely will crystallize somewhat in February when DOE unveils its detailed request to Congress for fiscal 2000.

The draft master plan unveiled Monday prioritizes the recommended studies.

For example, of the $25.96 million in new studies recommended for 2000, the draft plan says $14 million of this work is high priority.

People with questions or comments on the draft report can contact the project's Web site at www.bhi-erc.com/vadose on the Internet. Or call 376-7277.