Looming budget cuts may slow Hanford nuclear cleanup
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Here's something else the upcoming spending cuts will affect: The cleanup of radioactive waste at nuclear sites, including one in Washington state where waste tanks may be leaking 1,000 gallons per year.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu says cuts set to start taking effect Friday would delay work at the Energy Department's highest-risk sites.
That includes the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state, the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, where six tanks are leaking radioactive waste left over from decades of plutonium production for nuclear weapons.
Other high-risk sites facing work delays are in Tennessee, South Carolina and Idaho.
The Energy Department is facing an estimated $1.9 billion in spending cuts, including $900 million for the National Nuclear Security Administration. That agency is responsible for maintaining and securing the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile.
Meanwhile, Hanford officials are considering a number of options to deal with six leaking waste tanks there, including covers over the tanks to prevent rainfall from getting into them, a state official told lawmakers Thursday.
Two such covers already have been installed over tank farms at the Hanford nuclear reservation, and they have remarkably decreased the amount of moisture around the tanks, according to Jane Hedges of the Washington state Department of Ecology.
In the meantime, Hedges said, state and federal officials are still evaluating their options for controlling the leaks.
The federal government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb.
Today, the most vexing task in a cleanup that's expected to last decades is the removal of millions of gallons of highly radioactive waste from 177 aging, underground tanks, many of which are known to have leaked in the past. Workers have since removed all liquids that could be pumped out from the tanks and reported that as stabilized in 2005.
But last week, state and federal officials announced that six tanks are now leaking. The tanks hold a toxic and radioactive stew of waste left from decades of plutonium production for U.S. nuclear weapons.
Hedges testified before a work session of the state Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee. Under questioning from committee members, he stressed that the leaks pose no immediate threat to public safety or the environment.
The tanks sit several feet above the groundwater table, and it would take decades for the waste to reach it, she said. In addition, four of the six tanks in question sit 8 miles from the Columbia River, while the remaining two tanks sit 5 miles from the river.
"There is no risk to our agriculture community, to irrigated farmland, no risk to the river, the people in the Tri-Cities who get their drinking water from the river," she said.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber have called for additional tanks to be installed to transfer waste out of leaking tanks.
The cost for one, double-walled tank is estimated at between $150 million and $500 million, Hedges said.
The federal government already spends about $2 billion each year on Hanford cleanup - one-third of its entire budget for nuclear cleanup nationally.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu says cuts set to start taking effect Friday would delay work at the Energy Department's highest-risk sites.
That includes the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state, the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, where six tanks are leaking radioactive waste left over from decades of plutonium production for nuclear weapons.
Other high-risk sites facing work delays are in Tennessee, South Carolina and Idaho.
The Energy Department is facing an estimated $1.9 billion in spending cuts, including $900 million for the National Nuclear Security Administration. That agency is responsible for maintaining and securing the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile.
Meanwhile, Hanford officials are considering a number of options to deal with six leaking waste tanks there, including covers over the tanks to prevent rainfall from getting into them, a state official told lawmakers Thursday.
Two such covers already have been installed over tank farms at the Hanford nuclear reservation, and they have remarkably decreased the amount of moisture around the tanks, according to Jane Hedges of the Washington state Department of Ecology.
In the meantime, Hedges said, state and federal officials are still evaluating their options for controlling the leaks.
The federal government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb.
Today, the most vexing task in a cleanup that's expected to last decades is the removal of millions of gallons of highly radioactive waste from 177 aging, underground tanks, many of which are known to have leaked in the past. Workers have since removed all liquids that could be pumped out from the tanks and reported that as stabilized in 2005.
But last week, state and federal officials announced that six tanks are now leaking. The tanks hold a toxic and radioactive stew of waste left from decades of plutonium production for U.S. nuclear weapons.
Hedges testified before a work session of the state Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee. Under questioning from committee members, he stressed that the leaks pose no immediate threat to public safety or the environment.
The tanks sit several feet above the groundwater table, and it would take decades for the waste to reach it, she said. In addition, four of the six tanks in question sit 8 miles from the Columbia River, while the remaining two tanks sit 5 miles from the river.
"There is no risk to our agriculture community, to irrigated farmland, no risk to the river, the people in the Tri-Cities who get their drinking water from the river," she said.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber have called for additional tanks to be installed to transfer waste out of leaking tanks.
The cost for one, double-walled tank is estimated at between $150 million and $500 million, Hedges said.
The federal government already spends about $2 billion each year on Hanford cleanup - one-third of its entire budget for nuclear cleanup nationally.
If all you west siders would grab a mop and a bucket and spend a day out there, we would have this cleaned up in no time. ;)
Define slow. They who ever that might be, has been slow to clean this up anyways. Is there somthing between slow and not moving at all possible?
The tanks been leaking for decades, and our Washington State politicians have done little to nothing about it. Why are they worried now?
"Slow down" as in no cleanup...
Embedded bureaucratic systems and political pet programs must be protected while actual services get cut. It's a control thing.
Humans are really stupid.
To hear the politicians not spending 87,000,000,000 is a catastrophe. Not spend it out of a 3.600,000,000,000 budget. I don't know about others but I see it as a good thing.
There is no way every program the pols are saying are going to be cut would be effected that much. How about they ride commercial instead of flying in Air Force Lear jets? That would probably save a big chunk of it.
I call BULL**** on Wa D.C.Â
BTW how many storys like this is Komo gonna run???
I can't wait to see the jackalope in fields that surrond Hanford. All kidding aside, this is hardly a surprising story but very sad nonetheless. Â What a mess. There really is not place for nuclear waste.Â
Hardly a surprise. This thing is going to be a cash cow for contractors for the next 20 years. Anything that delays the projects completion adds to the contractors bottom line and the deficit.
@Charl317Â bingo. Â this is no different than the 520 bridge or the tunnel, except on a federal level. Â contractors, invested in by politicians, can use public safety as leverage for more taxpayer dollars.
good grief... Â come to me for sympathy when you stop building new soccer stadiums for guantanamo prisoners and researching the effects of cocaine on the sex life of japanese quails. Â hanford is the responsibility of the feds, so the state especially isn't getting any pity from me. Â good to know that all those children who are supposedly going to not get vaccinated from the sequestrations are less important than a criminal's field to play soccer on. Â i'll gladly call their bluff.
but yet we keep sending plan, boat and truck loads out of this country to help other nations with their civil wars and domestic policies.
WOW. The U.S. spending is over 3.2 trillion dollars every year, of which HALF is increasing our deficit annually, and they're making a big deal about 85 billion in cuts? What a bunch incompetents. The Democrats are really bad at managing our tax dollars. Â
See what happens when you don't have a budget to live by? Four years now, Democrats.
May I suggest relocating them to Washington, DC?
Get out the Chinese concrete.
Why is the State involved in any way? This is a Federal issue.
Why is one guy in the photo wearing a full head covering while the others have their hair, ears and skin exposed?Â
He's the smart one?. No it depends on the job they are doing. He is probably going into the valve vault and needs some extra protection.
@NW-Economist because people that fall for these scare tactics wouldn't normally notice anyway.