I have covered the world in this blog but sometimes you wind up in your own backyard. Problems at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation are like the rain in Seattle, they just keep coming. The Federal Government and the State of Washington are arguing over the cleanup of Hanford which is the most contaminated radioactive waste site in the country.
Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz is meeting with Washington Governor Jay Inslee and other state officials in Olympia this week. The Director of the Washington State Department of Ecology (WSDoE) and the top nuclear program manager of the state will also attend the meetings. The U.S. Department of Energy (USDoE) owns the Hanford Nuclear Reservation where toxic radioactive waste accumulated for decades as the U.S. nuclear arsenal was developed. The site is regulated by the WSDoE and the Federal EPA. The cleanup has been going on since 1989 when weapons production ended. There have been technical problems, schedule delays, radioactive material leaks from buried tanks, charges of incompetent management and a definite lack of transparency.
One of the topics for the meeting will be problems with execution of a consent decree that was signed by Washington State and the Federal Government. The USDoE has already started missing deadlines associated with startup of the Waste Treatment Plant and other goals. There is a possibility that the State of Washington will take the Federal Government to court over the delays.
There are hundreds of tanks full of radioactive waste buried at Hanford. Most are single-walled tanks some of which are leaking. Double-walled tanks were developed so the waste could be moved into storage that was not supposed to leak. Unfortunately, it turned out that the double walled tanks leak too. A particular double-walled tank known as AY-102 has been leaking for over two years. Washington State law says that leaking tanks need to be emptied within twenty four hours. AY-102 has not been emptied and submitted plans don't have any provision to pump it out for at least two year.
Washington State said that the Department of Energy's plan "demonstrates the Federal Government's lack of commitment to set a firm, near-term schedule for the removal of waste from leaking double-shell Tank AY-102...On initial review, the plan lacks accountability to meet state law."
Secretary Moniz visited Hanford in June of 2013. During his visit, Moniz met with local officials, whistleblowers, the media and other people with an interest in the Hanford cleanup. There are no such plan for his current visit which reinforces the perception that the Federal process is not transparent or accountable.
I personally attended a briefing thrown by Hanford staff to explain to the public why uranium is still leaking into the Columbia River from Hanford where millions of gallons of radioactive waste was poured into unlined trenches. The Hanford representatives were congenial and knowledgeable. They reassured the audience that they knew the problem, knew the solution and had a schedule for the work. Unfortunately, it turned out that there were also knowledgeable people in the audience who repeatedly called out the Hanford people on thing they were not saying and problems with their analysis and plans. I saw firsthand the lack of transparency and accountability at Hanford. After all the money that the U.S. Government spent on nuclear weapons, apparently they are either too stingy or too incompetent to clean up the mess they left at Hanford.
