Inslee: Hanford waste tanks could leak 1,000 gallons per year
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Radioactive waste tanks may be leaking some 1,000 gallons per year at Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday officials are still evaluating how to effectively remove the remaining material from the problematic tanks.
The 1,000-gallon figure is a rough estimate based on the early assessment of six identified leakers. Inslee said the leakage numbers are still being evaluated to determine exactly how much has been lost and how fast the waste is leaving the tanks.
Inslee said there's no available technology to plug the leaks, so federal and state officials are working to find the best available solution to remove the sludge. Inslee said that solution could come in weeks or months.
"We want to find the most expeditious way to get this job done," Inslee said.
Hanford has 177 aging tanks that store millions of gallons of radioactive sludge. Inslee said faulty data analysis meant officials did not properly catch signs of leaking before now, and Inslee expressed concern about the other tanks at the reservation.
Federal officials say there is no immediate threat to public safety and that they have not detected any discernible change in contamination levels in monitoring wells.
The federal government built the Hanford facility in south-central Washington at the height of World War II as part of the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Now the tanks at Hanford hold some 53 million gallons of highly radioactive waste.
Leakage has been a problem in the past, with an estimated 1 million gallons of radioactive liquid having already leaked, but the tanks were believed to have been stabilized in 2005.
The 1,000-gallon figure is a rough estimate based on the early assessment of six identified leakers. Inslee said the leakage numbers are still being evaluated to determine exactly how much has been lost and how fast the waste is leaving the tanks.
Inslee said there's no available technology to plug the leaks, so federal and state officials are working to find the best available solution to remove the sludge. Inslee said that solution could come in weeks or months.
"We want to find the most expeditious way to get this job done," Inslee said.
Hanford has 177 aging tanks that store millions of gallons of radioactive sludge. Inslee said faulty data analysis meant officials did not properly catch signs of leaking before now, and Inslee expressed concern about the other tanks at the reservation.
Federal officials say there is no immediate threat to public safety and that they have not detected any discernible change in contamination levels in monitoring wells.
The federal government built the Hanford facility in south-central Washington at the height of World War II as part of the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Now the tanks at Hanford hold some 53 million gallons of highly radioactive waste.
Leakage has been a problem in the past, with an estimated 1 million gallons of radioactive liquid having already leaked, but the tanks were believed to have been stabilized in 2005.
Inslee....just shut-up - less you are go to purpose some of our excess prison population to take over the cleanup work I'd rather here from the experts... and that is not you....
hey look at the bright side. How many people this mess has employed. It is like the DOT. Get hired on there and your in for life. Except for some of them life is short. This was a disaster from the begining and we just keep studying it and funding it
Inslee's a joke. I don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth.Â
That said, Hanford has been a problem since before I was born 36 years ago, why is it JUST NOW a big deal?Â
Bad joke warning:  look on the bright side, once the tanks are empty, Hanford won't have to worry about how to dispose of the waste.
My mother, grandmother, great grandmother, great aunt and cousin are all in the ground because of this. Â How many more will die of cancer thanks to Hanford? Â This might just bring out the Erin Brockovich in me!
@makeadifference I have a news flash for ya, we all are going to be in the ground someday. I have yet to find anyone who has been living forever.
@Nightshift @makeadifference at the age of 56 from various types of cancer?  Thanks for your compassion
Oh yes, the State is going to study it, consult on it, study it some more and then hire outside experts and in the end 10 years from now the damn things will still be leaking and the Columbia will glow at night from all of the radio activity in it. Screw the study, consultation and all the rest of the bureaucratic crap and do something and do it now.
So how big will the radioactive salmon get in the Columbia river? We should charge the States where this crap came from.
How much of the radioactive waste was actually generated at Hanford?How much of the problem developed due to the political decision to use Hanford ad a waste disposal destination point?Who made that decision?And then the big one;why were sufficient funds not made available to properly contain this mess the federal government allowed to accumulate?The finger needs to point east.
oh well....
Back in the mid 60's there was a big underground tank leak and they predicted how long it would take for the contamination to reach the Columbia River. I wonder if they ever worked out a solution for that one.
E N E N E W S   (dot)    c o m   has been covering this story for awhile. Read the comments there to learn a lot and feel free to contribute!Â
They've known about radioactive contamination and pollution from Hanford for decades.
Begin watching this video @10:35, where problems at Hanford are discussed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk5ai0gOQHU&feature=player_embedded#!
Here are some points from the video:
â> In 1943, 170 gigantic concrete tanks were built at Hanford to hold radioactive waste. The tanks were supposed to be temporary.
â> 200 million litres of highly radioactive gunge remains there.
â> In the 1980's they found 60 of the tanks were leaking contamination into the groundwater.
â> A 2002 Department of Energy report confirmed Strontium-90 in Columbia River fish. 13 out of 15 fish caught were contaminated.
â> A Nuclear Physicist found:
(a) TRITIUM contamination of the Columbia River; from 2.5 to 13 Bq per litre
(b) Four times more Uranium than Radium, which is an abnormal ratio
(c) Europium-152 was found
(d) and he said the site continually leaks and drags radioactive elements into the water that slowly migrate to the Columbia River
â> A Nuclear Engineer interviewed said that the ground water near the site will remain toxic for hundreds of thousands of years â primarily with Chromium. Salmon are laying their eggs in this.
Watch the video to learn more.
The road to hell started when the government took responsibility away from the nuclear energy producers. There has been no incentive therefore to research a non-toxic method of waste disposal. Encapsulation, vitreous or not is no answer - waiting thousands of years for the material to loose radiation, the present method, is a proposal of the brain dead.
Remember when the Deepwater Horizon oil spill happened.
1,000/5,000 bbls/day changed to
20,000 bbls/day to
May 27, 2010 Estimate (12,000-25,000 bbls/day) to
June 10, 2010 Estimate (20,000-40,000 bbls/day) toÂ
June 15, 2010 Estimate (35,000-60,000 bbls/day) to finally
The Current Estimate (52,700-62,200 bbls/day)Â
First it was one tank leaking slightly,
then it was 5 tanks leaking slightly,
now it's "1,000 gallons per year".
and I have a feeling this is just the beginning.
@Grunged I agree!!  They are slowly conditioning us to the idea of an environmental disaster!  Billions of tax dollars needed to clean up the site.  Billions more are going to be needed to clean up the spillage. Who is in charge??? And why did they let the containers go over the life span of these containers?????  What the hell did they think would happen???  This is a total cluster F, and we are going to be working many lifetimes to pay for this disaster, while someone will walk away with billions in their pockets.  I think someone should be held accountable for not being on top of this situation. Â
@Grunged Yep. I am glad though that we finally have a governor with cajones willing to buck the feds. Its time to build a fire under the feds @sses to get this fixed quick. How many decades has this illegal behavior been going on? Way too long.
Blindman, I have a bridge I can sell you.Â
This is just the tip of the iceberg. The feds have never made a strong commitment to clean up this mess. It is high on the list of things to do when they get around to it. As of 2008, 1 million gallons of highly radioactive waste is traveling through the groundwater toward the Columbia River.
@al_wa Of course it ain't going to stop at the C river, it will head out to sea and eventually we'll wind up contaminating the oceans, killing the fish and eventually the human race. what a fitting end eh?