A tank that holds radioactive liquids is leaking at the
nation’s most contaminated nuclear site, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said
Friday, raising concerns about the integrity of other storage facilities at the
Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
The U.S. Department
of Energy said liquid levels are decreasing in one of 177 underground tanks at
the nuclear reservation. Monitoring wells near the tank have not detected
higher radiation levels, but Inslee said the leak could be in the range of 150
gallons to 300 gallons over the course of a year and creates a long-term threat
that could impact groundwater or rivers.
“I am alarmed about
this on many levels,” Inslee said at a Friday afternoon news conference. “This
raises concerns, not only about the existing leak … but also concerning the
integrity of the other single shell tanks of this age.”
The tanks hold
millions of gallons of a highly radioactive stew left from decades of plutonium
production for nuclear weapons.
Inslee said the state
was assured years ago that such problems had been dealt with and he warned that
spending cuts – particularly due to a budget fight in Congress – would create
further risks at Hanford. Inslee said the cleanup must be a priority for the
federal government.
“We are willing to
exercise our rights using the legal system at the appropriate time. That should
be clear,” Inslee said.Inslee said the state has a good partner in Energy
Secretary Steven Chu but that he’s concerned about whether Congress is
committed to clean up the highly contaminated site.
The tank in question
contains about 447,000 gallons of sludge, a mixture of solids and liquids with
a mud-like consistency. The tank, built in the 1940s, is known to have leaked
in the past, but was stabilized in 1995 when all liquids that could be pumped
out of it were removed.
Plutonium production continued there through the Cold War.
Today, Hanford is the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site. Cleanup will
cost billions of dollars and last decades.
Central to that
cleanup is the removal of millions of gallons of a highly toxic, radioactive
stew – enough to fill dozens of Olympic-size swimming pools – from 177 aging,
underground tanks. Over time, many of those tanks have leaked, threatening the
groundwater and the neighboring Columbia River, the largest waterway in the
Pacific Northwest.Construction of a $12.3 billion plant to convert the waste to
a safe, stable form is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over
budget. Technical problems have slowed the project, and several workers have
raised lawsuits in recent months, claiming they were retaliated against for
raising concerns about the plant’s design and safety.
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