nuclear-news

Strong opposition to importing radioactive wastes to Hanford

Groups demand DOE end plans to send waste to Hanford By Annette Cary, Tri City Herald 30 April 2010, A coalition of Northwest environmental groups is demanding that Energy Secretary Steven Chu end any plans to import radioactive waste to Hanford.The Department of Energy agreed as part of a proposed settlement with the state of Washington not to send most types of radioactive waste to Hanford for disposal until the vitrification plant is in full operation to treat the worst waste now stored in underground tanks. That’s scheduled for 2022.
The coalition is asking Chu to issue a formal decision that DOE not add more waste to Hanford and conduct a new environmental study if DOE revisits the issue after 2022.

“Citizens of the Pacific Northwest will not tolerate off-site waste exacerbating Hanford’s existing threats to the Columbia River and people of the Northwest,” said the letter signed by leaders of Columbia Riverkeeper and Heart of America Northwest. It also listed 19 other organizations.

A new 6,000-page draft environmental study — the Hanford Tank Closure and Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement — shows that importing radioactive waste for disposal at Hanford would significantly increase pollution in ground water beneath the nuclear reservation.

Under some scenarios that appear likely, the amount of certain long-lived radioactive isotopes that would be imported and buried at Hanford would account for as much as 90 percent of the releases of that isotope to the environment, according to the state. Some of the worst contamination could occur 1,000 or more years from now.

The draft study prepared by DOE looks at sending 107,000 cubic yards of radioactive waste, some mixed with hazardous chemicals, to Hanford for disposal. That waste would be covered by the moratorium until about 2022.

The environmental groups want a revised draft of the study to be released that does not propose adding off-site waste to Hanford low-level and low-activity radioactive waste to be buried at Hanford landfills. Groups demand DOE end plans to send waste to Hanford – Mid-Columbia News | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news

May 1, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors