Six metric tons of Rocky Flats plutonium could be stored temporarily at Hanford under one of several scenarios the Department of Energy is pondering as it tries to speed up plutonium disposal nationwide.

That scenario would later send that plutonium to Savannah River.

This is part of a complicated juggling act among DOE's sites at Hanford, Rocky Flats, Colo., and Savannah River, S.C.

That juggling act could speed up getting rid of plutonium stored at Hanford's Plutonium Finishing Plant and at Rocky Flats - eventually sending those materials to storage vaults at Savannah River. The juggling act has the potential to save $2.5 billion at Hanford and Rocky Flats over the next few decades, according to DOE figures.

Pete Knollmeyer, DOE's assistant manager for facilities transition at Hanford, briefly discussed the idea Friday with the Hanford Advisory Board.

DOE is examining four scenarios for Rocky Flats and Hanford with no timetable on when it will pick one. There is no apparent front-runner among the four options, Knollmeyer said.

The basic situation is this:

Rocky Flats in Colorado has six metric tons of plutonium metal and oxides with that storage facility due to be closed in 2010. DOE's Rocky Flats office wants to step that timetable up to 2006.

Meanwhile, DOE's Hanford office is looking at speeding the shutdown of the PFP - moving the plutonium removal date from 2025 to 2005 and moving completion of cleanup of the complex from 2011 to 2006. The PFP holds 4.3 metric tons of plutonium.

To speed up plutonium removal at Rocky Flats, DOE in Washington, D.C., is looking at four scenarios:

Doing nothing.

Modifying a defunct reactor complex at Savannah River to be a temporary storage site and move the Rocky Flats plutonium directly there. Two permanent storage vaults eventually would be built.

Not modifying the Savannah River reactor complex. The Rocky Flats plutonium would move to the PFP sometime between 1999 and 2002. This would give Savannah River time to build two permanent storage vaults. Then Rocky Flats' plutonium and 4 metric tons of the PFP's plutonium would be shipped to Savannah River by 2005. The other 0.3 tons of PFP plutonium would be shipped to a repository in New Mexico.

Modifying the Savannah River reactor complex and build one permanent storage vault to eventually receive the other sites' plutonium.

Knollmeyer said some DOE officials are pessimistic Hanford would be chosen as a temporary storage site because of expected political opposition from the Northwest to hauling in another site's plutonium.

Dirk Dunning, representing the Oregon Department of Energy on the Hanford board, said: "I do not see this as a positive development. I view it more as a Rocky Flats problem coming to us. ... My concern is if it comes here, it would never leave."

Knollmeyer said DOE officials have speculated about that possibility.

Consequently, a memorandum of understanding among DOE's Rocky Flats, Hanford, Savannah River and Washington, D.C., offices could be signed that the Rocky Flats and Hanford plutonium would have to be on the road to Savannah River by 2005, Knollmeyer said.

There are other bargaining chips involved:

DOE's Richland office would insist Rocky Flats pay for all expenses for its plutonium staying at Hanford.

DOE's Richland office is seeking an extra $200 million over the next few years to speed up the PFP's shutdown. Currently, the PFP's needs through 2006 are estimated to be about $800 million without speeding up cleanup and plutonium removal.

Closing the PFP by 2006 would save $1.2 billion in long-term maintenance costs through 2038.