Public comment extended to September 1st!

Environmental groups criticize #Hanford #nuclear waste cleanup plan

by Eric Tegethoff
Wednesday, July 24, 2024

"A new agreement on plans for cleaning up nuclear waste at the Hanford site in #WashingtonState is receiving pushback from #environmental groups.

"Public comment was originally scheduled to close at the beginning of August but has been extended to Sept. 1 for the Tri-Party Agreement between the U-S Energy Department, Environmental Protection Agency and Washington Department of Ecology.

"Simone Anter, staff attorney and Hanford program director for the nonprofit #ColumbiaRiverkeeper, said the new agreement means changes to the cleanup efforts including how and where the Hanford #NuclearWaste is stored.

"'If new proposals are coming out to ship either grouted or liquid nuclear waste across the region, communities deserve to know that and deserve to have a voice and deserve to be engaged,' Anter contended.

"The agreement for dealing with 177 underground storage tanks at Hanford took four years of closed door negotiations. Columbia #Riverkeeper and other environmental groups worry the new agreement opens the door for a storage method other than #vitrification, which is used to turn high-level waste into glass.

"Anter noted #TribalNations in the region were not consulted about the proposal. She stressed even if they could not be part of the agreement, the agencies should have been considered before it was presented to the public.

"'#Tribal nations are not members of the public. They are government entities and should have been treated as such,' Anter pointed out.

"Anter added members of the public can play a big role in how the 56 million gallons of nuclear waste at Hanford are handled.

"'It's really important that all these cleanup decisions put human health, the #ColumbiaRiver and the environment first,' Anter asserted. 'I think public comments play an enormous role in reminding the #TPA agencies about this."

Source:
https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2024-07-24/nuclear-waste/environmental-groups-criticize-hanford-nuclear-waste-cleanup-plan/a91457-1

#WaterIsLife #NoDumping
#FutureGenerations
#NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons
#RethinkNotRestart #NuclearWaste #HanfordNuclearSite

Historic #Hanford #Contamination is Worse Than Expected: #Oregon Experts Weigh In

July 7, 2023

"In late June, the U.S. Department of Energy reported that radioactive contamination beneath a building at the #HanfordNuclearSite is worse than originally thought.

"The Hanford 324 Building is located on the south end of Hanford – in what’s known as the 300 Area – just 1,000 feet from the #ColumbiaRiver. The US DOE has known about one spill under the building for over a decade, and has been working on a plan for cleanup of the area while also making progress in other areas of Hanford since production turned to cleanup at the site in the 1980s.

"The agency knew the contamination in the soil was serious, but sampling this spring found unexpected contamination deeper in the soil and outside the previously known spill area. So what does that mean? Oregon Department of Energy Assistant Director for Nuclear Safety and Emergency Preparedness Maxwell Woods and Hanford Hydrogeologist Tom Sicilia weigh in.

"Q: Is the #groundwater or the Columbia River at risk of exposure to the contaminated soil?

"A: Based on data from monitoring wells, the US DOE reports that the spill has not migrated to groundwater, so at this time the groundwater that flows to the river poses a minimal risk. But it will be important moving forward that the area remain covered and protected and for monitoring to continue while a cleanup plan is identified.

"We hear US DOE may also be considering adding additional groundwater monitoring in the area to capture more data, which we support.

[...]

"Q: What are the risks with the new plan?

"A: If US DOE decides to construct the big metal shell, a next question will be whether work should continue with robots or remotely operated equipment to resume the digging, or if the agency should wait a few more decades to allow the #radioactive materials in the soil to decay further.

"Depending on how “hot” the soil really is – it could be hundreds of years before it would be safe enough for humans to manually excavate it. Remotely operated equipment is used across the Hanford site for safe cleanup activities.

"While the risk to groundwater and the river are low, there is a balance between the inevitable migration of #contaminants over time and the ability to safely complete the cleanup. In the near-term, US DOE seems to be doing the right thing, and is 'measuring twice' to avoid having to go back out and re-dig this complicated and dangerous soil. This pause will allow a more efficient and protective remedy to be developed for review by stakeholders, Tribal nations, the public, and site regulators."

https://energyinfo.oregon.gov/blog/2023/7/7/historic-hanford-contamination-is-worse-than-expected-oregon-experts-weigh-in

#WaterIsLife #Oregon #WashingtonState #HanfordNuclearFacility #NoNukes #NoDumping
#FutureGenerations
#NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NuclearWaste #NuclearWeaponsDump

What’s being done now about #RadioactiveWater that threatens the #ColumbiaRiver in #WashingtonState?

by Annette Cary
Tue, July 9, 2024

"A major #radioactive contamination threat to the Columbia River should be removed at the #Hanford #nuclear site before the end of summer.

"Hanford workers have started to pump contaminated water from the final basin of the nuclear reservation’s nine reactors along the Columbia River.

"'This effort will eliminate the risk of a leak of contaminated water to the groundwater about a quarter-mile from the Columbia River,' said Andy Wiborg, the Department of Energy acting deputy assistant manager for river and plateau cleanup."

[...]

"The K West and K East Reactor basins were the last to be used, after storing irradiated fuel from N Reactor that was not processed following the end of the Cold War. Before the fuel was removed in 2004, it #corroded underwater, contributing to a highly #RadioactiveSludge.

"In 2019 the last of the sludge was removed, leaving draining the water the next major task to reduce risk from the basins.

"The nearby K East Reactor basin was emptied first.

"Then in June, the first tanker truck with basin water pulled away from the K West Reactor.
About 60 tanker trucks have been filled with filtered water to remove radioactive contamination from the K West Reactor basin as it is being drained. The work will protect the nearby Columbia River.
About 60 tanker trucks have been filled with filtered water to remove radioactive contamination from the K West Reactor basin as it is being drained. The work will protect the nearby Columbia River.

"About 400,000 gallons have been pumped out of the basin so far, which is the equivalent of six residential swimming pools, said Heather Dale, DOE Hanford assistant manager for the river and plateau. About 60 tanker trucks have been filled with basin water.

[...]

"They also installed a system to pump out and then filter the contaminated water before it it loaded into tanker trucks.

"The filtering system removes particles and also uses an ion exchange system to remove radioactive #cesium and #strontium from the water. The initial resin used in the ion exchange system DID NOT WORK WELL, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in January.

[...]

"Some of the contents of the vertical pipe units in the K West Reactor basin may be required to be sent to the nation’s repository for transuranic radioactive waste in New Mexico for disposal [#WIPP].

Read more:
https://news.yahoo.com/news/being-done-now-radioactive-water-181740119.html

#WaterIsLife
#NoNukes
#NoDumping
#FutureGenerations
#NoWar
#NoNuclearWeapons
#RethinkNotRestart
#NuclearWaste
#HanfordNuclearSite