Notes on public meeting held at the Seattle University Heights Center on July 31, 2013 by the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) at Hanford to explain planned cleanup of Hanford 300 Area and solicit public comment.
Part 1 of 4
I attended a public meeting called by representatives of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation last night at the University Heights Center. There were the usual glossy panels set up on a series of tables with maps, diagrams and tables explaining the situation, processes and alternatives for cleaning up the 300 Area at Hanford. There were between thirty and forty people there for the meeting. Considering how important this topic is, I was disappointed at the turn out. On the other hand, I only found out about it a few days before. Whoever is responsible for publicizing these meetings is doing a very poor job. If I were cynical, I would say that they really don’t want to talk to the public but the alternative explanation is incompetence. Even with low attendance, the meeting ran way behind schedule. If you find the following article confusing, that is an accurate reflection of the meeting.
As I explained in a recent post, the 300 Area was used to create uranium fuel rods for Hanford reactors during World War II and the Cold War. There were also laboratories where experiments were held in the chemical extraction of plutonium from spent fuel rods for nuclear weapons. A huge quantity of liquid waste was poured into trenches in the 300 Area and solid waste was buried in several spots. It was known that uranium had soaked into the ground and that it was moving through the ground water into the Columbia River which runs along the side of the 300 Area. In the 90s, the top 15 feet of soil was removed from some parts of the 300 Area and dumped into a lined landfill at Hanford. The uranium flowing into the river dropped to safe levels. But since then the uranium flow has risen again. It was determined that there was uranium below the fifteen foot level that was been leached out of the soil when the river rose and the ground water rose with it, resoaking the soil that contained the uranium.
Before the seven PM official presentation, Heart of America Northwest showed some slides and raised some important questions. Three contamination levels were discussed. There is an “industrial” standard for workers in buildings and grounds which would result in eight additional cases of cancer per ten thousand people. The Federal cleanup standard for residential use is one additional case of cancer per ten thousand people. The Washington State Standard is one additional case of cancer per one hundred thousand people. Federal law says that if a state standard is stricter than the national standard, then the state standard should take precedence. The Hanford plan was calling for the weakest of the three for part of the 300 Area and, as far as I understand, the Federal standard for the rest of the area. One additional concern about the designation of the industrial area was that it was going to have to be permanently fenced off and guarded from any public use. This might be difficult to maintain for decades.
For more information on 300 Area at Hanford:
Article from Hanford DOE about 300 Area
Article about Hanford 300 Area from EPA
