Radioactive waste leaking in US
Source: Agencies |
February 24, 2013, Sunday
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SIX underground tanks that hold radioactive and toxic waste at the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States are leaking, Governor Jay Inslee announced Friday.
The leaks raise new concerns about delays in emptying the tanks at south-central Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation, and they strike another blow to federal efforts to clean up the site, where successes often are overshadowed by delays, budget overruns and technological challenges.
State officials just last week announced one of Hanford's 177 underground tanks was leaking in the range of 570 to 1,136 liters a year, posing a risk to groundwater and rivers. So far, nearby wells haven't detected higher radioactivity.
The governor said the leaking material poses no immediate risk to public safety or the environment because it would take a while - perhaps years - to reach groundwater.
Inslee traveled to Washington, DC, this week to discuss the problem with federal officials. He said he received the "very disturbing news" during meetings Friday that six tanks are leaking. "I think that we are going to have a course of new action and that will be vigorously pursued in the next several weeks," he said.
Inslee's comments came days after Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said the Hanford nuclear reservation would be the subject of upcoming hearings and a higher priority in Washington, DC.
The federal government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the top-secret project to build the atomic bomb, and the site went on to produce plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal for years.
Today, it is the country's most contaminated nuclear site, with cleanup expected to last decades and cost billions of dollars. There are legal and ethical considerations to cleaning up the Hanford site at the national level, Inslee said, adding that he will continue to insist that the Department of Energy fully clean up the site.
The tanks hold some 200 million liters of highly radioactive waste and many are known to have leaked in the past. An estimated 3,800,000 liters of radioactive liquid has leaked.
The tanks also are long past their intended 20-year life span - raising concerns that even more tanks could be leaking - though they were believed to have been stabilized in 2005.
Inslee said the falling waste levels in the six tanks were missed on graphs because only a narrow band was evaluated.
"Perhaps human error, the protocol did not call for it. But that's not the most important thing at the moment. The important thing is to find and address the leaks," he said.
The government already spends US$2 billion each year on Hanford cleanup efforts.
The leaks raise new concerns about delays in emptying the tanks at south-central Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation, and they strike another blow to federal efforts to clean up the site, where successes often are overshadowed by delays, budget overruns and technological challenges.
State officials just last week announced one of Hanford's 177 underground tanks was leaking in the range of 570 to 1,136 liters a year, posing a risk to groundwater and rivers. So far, nearby wells haven't detected higher radioactivity.
The governor said the leaking material poses no immediate risk to public safety or the environment because it would take a while - perhaps years - to reach groundwater.
Inslee traveled to Washington, DC, this week to discuss the problem with federal officials. He said he received the "very disturbing news" during meetings Friday that six tanks are leaking. "I think that we are going to have a course of new action and that will be vigorously pursued in the next several weeks," he said.
Inslee's comments came days after Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said the Hanford nuclear reservation would be the subject of upcoming hearings and a higher priority in Washington, DC.
The federal government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the top-secret project to build the atomic bomb, and the site went on to produce plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal for years.
Today, it is the country's most contaminated nuclear site, with cleanup expected to last decades and cost billions of dollars. There are legal and ethical considerations to cleaning up the Hanford site at the national level, Inslee said, adding that he will continue to insist that the Department of Energy fully clean up the site.
The tanks hold some 200 million liters of highly radioactive waste and many are known to have leaked in the past. An estimated 3,800,000 liters of radioactive liquid has leaked.
The tanks also are long past their intended 20-year life span - raising concerns that even more tanks could be leaking - though they were believed to have been stabilized in 2005.
Inslee said the falling waste levels in the six tanks were missed on graphs because only a narrow band was evaluated.
"Perhaps human error, the protocol did not call for it. But that's not the most important thing at the moment. The important thing is to find and address the leaks," he said.
The government already spends US$2 billion each year on Hanford cleanup efforts.
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