[CPEO-MEF] Inspector General questions Hanford Reactor deactivation plan

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

U.S. plan for Hanford reactor questioned 

Energy's approach may not be most effective, report says

By SHANNON DININNY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
April 5, 2005


YAKIMA -- The U.S. Department of Energy should reevaluate its plans for
deactivating and decontaminating a one-of-a-kind reactor at the Hanford
Nuclear Reservation, the agency's inspector general said in a report
released yesterday.

The report centered on the federal government's plans for closing the
Fast Flux Test Facility, the last remaining sodium-cooled reactor in the
United States. Built to test advanced nuclear fuels, the reactor was
used for research, to produce medical and industrial isotopes, and to
make tritium from 1982 until 1992.

After much debate about its future, the reactor was finally ordered
closed in December 2001. The Energy Department awarded a $235 million
small business contract to Knoxville, Tenn.-based SEC Closure Alliance
last September to perform some of the closure work.

Another bidder challenged that contract. The Government Accountability
Office, the investigative arm of Congress, upheld the challenge, saying
the Energy Department did not evaluate bids fairly.

The Energy Department's existing project plan may not be the most
effective approach to shutting down the reactor, the inspector general said.

...

For the entire article, see
http://p-i.com/cgi-bin/pimail.asp?uid=24455&url=local/218833_hanford05.html



-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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