Hanford Nuclear Reservation

Swallows cause radioactive contamination at Hanford

Anna King — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 17:50:46 +0000

Workers are back on the job at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation’s waste treatment plant. Work stopped this week when radioactive soil was found under the nests of some swallows.

Swallows used some radioactive mud to make nests on exposed beamwork in Hanford’s waste treatment plant. That’s the $12 billion factory designed to bind-up radioactive sludge in glass logs.

Japanese officials visit Hanford to learn nuclear cleanup strategies

Anna King — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:17:28 +0000

The people overseeing the cleanup of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster are learning some valuable lessons from the long-running cleanup at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. A Japanese government delegation recently toured some of the southeast Washington site this week.

Some Hanford water cleanup moving faster than expected

Anna King — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:20:58 +0000

Cleanup of a hazardous chemical in the groundwater at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is going faster than expected.

Hexavalent chromium is the nasty stuff that made Erin Brockovich famous down in California. The chemical was used to inhibit rust in coolant water in Hanford’s reactors. But that water was dumped into the desert, and now the carcinogen is making its way toward the Columbia River in large groundwater plumes.

What makes Hanford's 'TRU' tank waste different from the rest?

Anna King — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

The U.S. Department of Energy says its wants to send 3 million gallons of radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation to a storage site in New Mexico. That’s 3 million gallons out of a total of 56 million gallons of some of the most toxic stuff on earth.

But what is different about this waste in particular, and why some groups are against moving it to New Mexico?

Hanford cleaup slows while tanks leak, tratment plant stalls

Anna King — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 23:21:10 +0000

Every day, up to three gallons of radioactive waste at Hanford seeps into the desert sand from underground tanks, not far from the Columbia River.

That has prompted Gov. Jay Inslee to tour the remote site along with buses full of officials and media that roll through a sea of sagebrush.

Hundreds of pink slips handed out at Hanford

The Associated Press — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:25:09 +0000

Pink slips are going out to hundreds of workers at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site because of automatic federal budget cuts.

About 9,000 people work at south-central Washington's Hanford Nuclear Reservation, which produced plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal beginning in World War II.

Inslee: Hanford leaking tank waste removal will take years

Anna King — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:32:15 +0000

RICHLAND, Wash. – It may take two to four years to even begin clearing radioactive waste from leaking tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. That’s according to Washington Governor Jay Inslee. He toured the southeast Washington nuclear site Wednesday.

Governor Inslee strode around the Hanford site in smooth chestnut-leather cowboy boots. He was tailed by an entourage of two bus-loads of government officials and reporters.

Sequester to result in 4,800 Hanford layoffs, furloughs

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:17:04 +0000

RICHLAND, Wash. – As many as 4,800 workers could be furloughed or laid off at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington. It’s the result of the federal spending cuts known as the sequester. Hanford will need to cut $182 million in cleanup work according to a federal letter to Washington Governor Jay Inslee released Tuesday.

The Hanford cuts could begin as early as April 1, but it’s no April Fool’s joke.

Washington State University leads new Hanford oral history project

Anna King — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:51:00 +0000

RICHLAND, Wash. – A coalition of groups from southeast Washington is collecting oral histories about the the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and communities around it -- from pioneer days to post-war-cleanup.

Regulators say leaking Hanford tanks pose no threat to locals

Alexandra Kocik — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 23:34:00 +0000

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Environmental regulators are assuring lawmakers in Olympia that leaking radioactive material from tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation has not yet reached ground water.

Inslee expresses concern over Hanford leaks, other areas of site

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 01:53:00 +0000

RICHLAND, Wash. – Washington Governor Jay Inslee Wednesday expressed his continuing apprehension over the tank leaks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington.

Inslee says at least seven tanks at Hanford leaking

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 01:57:00 +0000

RICHLAND, Wash. – Washington Governor Jay Inslee says at least seven tanks of radioactive waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation are leaking, not two. He says the Department of Energy and its contractors have apparently miscalculated data that would have found the leaks earlier.

Governor Inslee called the revelation that six single-shell tanks and one double-shell tank are actively leaking at Hanford ‘disturbing’ news.

Recent reports spur controversy over Hanford's waste treatment plant

Anna King — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:13:00 +0000

RICHLAND, Wash. – News out of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation can sometimes sound like just one critical report after another. In fact, last week a federal watchdog agency said Hanford’s massive waste treatment plant is in jeopardy.

Management Change For Hanford Treatment Plant

Anna King — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 18:53:59 +0000

RICHLAND, Wash. – A Hanford watchdog group is concerned with what it calls a “revolving door” for top managers at the nuclear site in southeast Washington.

Recently the U.S. Department of Energy announced it’s replacing the man in charge of cleaning up leaky underground tanks of radioactive waste after just 18 months on the job.

Hanford officials prepare for worst with leaking tank

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:38:01 +0000

RICHLAND, Wash. – Workers the Hanford Nuclear Reservation are readying pumping equipment at a slow-leaking radioactive waste tank in case the leak gets worse. A newly released report details why the tank became unstable.

Hanford officials say so far they’ve found no waste leaking into the environment from the tank called AY-102.

The new report says many of the tanks original welds from 40 years ago didn’t meet standards and had to be fixed before it was filled.