Our Pacific Northwest:Hanford Reveals it's in Over its Head

Our Pacific Northwest

Hanford Reveals It's In Over its Head

Last Friday, Washington Governor Jay Inslee informed local and national press a nuclear tank at the Hanford Nuclear Plant is leaking radioactive waste. This week the Seattle Times has reported a $13.4 billion treatment plant for the site scheduled to be finished in 2019 may not reach the deadline due to “serious, unresolved engineering challenges.” The treatment plant would properly treat contaminated water and store 56 million gallons of radioactive waste at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site. According to the report, federal and state government officials have agreed to begin test phases by 2019 with the plant being fully operational by 2022. But the project has hit financial and political snags, particularly if the automatic federal spending cuts are initiated next month. The report also stated although construction of the treatment plant is over halfway finished, 80 percent of the actual engineering is completed. Efforts are being made by the Energy Department and local contractors to pump the waste out of the tanks into double-shelled tanks, offering better protection. This is unsettling news for both man and creature in our Pacific Northwest, as the contamination threatens some of the most critical watersheds in the region.

Photo Via Dirty Clean PNW



Northwest Now: Nuclear Tank in Washington State Leaking Radioactive Waste

Northwest Now

Nuclear Tank in Washington State Leaking Radioactive Waste

In a report circulated by the Associated Press, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced late Friday afternoon a tank at the Hanford Nuclear Plant, the nations most contaminated nuclear site, is currently leaking radioactive waste. According to the report, the tanks which are “long past their intended 20-year lifespan” hold millions of gallons of nuclear waste. The suspected leaking tank holds nearly 447,000 gallons of radioactive sludge from decades of plutonium production. Inslee stated the leak could vary from 150 to 300 gallons over the course of a year, likely resulting in a long term contamination threat to groundwater and rivers. Inslee blamed spending cuts and the incompletion of a $12.3 billion plant to safely convert the waste into a more stable form for the tank’s neglect. The nuclear site sits directly on the Columbia river, the biggest waterway in the Pacific Northwest.

 

 Photo Via No Water-No Life