[CPEO-MEF] RADIATION: Hanford (WA) tanks

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

53 million gallons in danger of leaking
Transfer of waste to safer containers is lagging

By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER (WA)
March 20, 2008

The wastes stored in underground tanks at the Hanford Nuclear 
Reservation are so dangerous that their fumes give people headaches, 
nosebleeds and sore throats and make them nauseated.

An unfortunate few have been doused with the deadly stuff in accidents; 
one now is dying of cancer.

Called by state regulators "the most toxic waste known to this 
environment," the 53 million gallons of waste sit in 177 massive, buried 
tanks near the Columbia River. Intended for short-term use, some of the 
tanks are more than a half-century old. They were built of carbon steel 
-- an alloy prone to corrosion. They are cocooned in concrete that in 
places has cracked and crumbled. The contents historically boiled and 
exploded, and the tank bottoms buckled. More than one-third leaked.

The tanks are supposed to be emptied and the waste safely trapped in 
glass, but those plans keep getting pushed back. At the current rate of 
funding, tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation won't be emptied for 
decades -- maybe even a century.

...

For the entire article, see
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/355909_tanks21.html

See also

Troubled Hanford cleanup has state mulling lawsuit

By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER (WA)
March 20, 2008

The hose ruptured just after 2 a.m. in July at the Hanford Nuclear 
Reservation, spilling 85 gallons of radioactive waste being pumped from 
a decaying underground tank. It wasn't until 9:45 a.m. -- more than 
seven hours later -- that workers even realized that a spill had occurred.

They could not have imagined that such a relatively small spill -- a 
result of shoddy planning and inadequate equipment testing -- would have 
such large repercussions. It brought to a halt millions of dollars of 
cleanup activities that are yet to resume, crippling the pace of an 
already sluggish project.

...

For the entire article, see
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/355924_hanford21.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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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