[CPEO-MEF] After Decade of Delay, Hanford Nuclear Mess to be Cleaned Up

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

After Decade of Delay, Hanford Nuclear Mess to be Cleaned Up

By LINDA ASHTON | Associated Press 09/18/2002

RICHLAND, Wash.?In a scrubby sagebrush desert not far from the Columbia
River, lethal leftovers from the Cold War era are finally about to be
cleaned up.

After a decade of fits and starts, construction has begun on a $4
billion waste treatment complex at the Hanford nuclear reservation, the
biggest environmental cleanup project in the country.

Environmental advocates say it's none too soon. At least 67 of Hanford's
177 underground tanks, some of them decrepit and well past their
intended service lives, have leaked more than 1 million gallons of
radioactive brew into the soil.

The waste has contaminated the aquifer, and the tanks are just seven
miles from the Columbia River, which borders Hanford.

This article can be viewed at:
http://santafenewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2144&dept_id=493858&newsid=5411470&PAG=461&rfi=9

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