nuclear-news

Dangerous nuclear wastes – what a mess at Hanford!

“This is one of the most challenging cleanup projects at the Hanford Site, because the records don’t tell us exactly what’s buried here,

Hazardous materials removed from burial ground in Hanford – KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA , 27 Aug 2010, RICHLAND, Wash.— Workers are making their first entry into one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s most hazardous waste burial grounds containing radioactive and hazardous materials at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state.

The work will help identify what is buried at the site, known as the 618-10 Burial Ground, located near the Columbia River and a few miles north of Richland.

So far, workers have dug up several drums containing radioactive materials, such as depleted uranium chips in oil, a cask with unknown contents and other miscellaneous debris. The depleted uranium chips are typically covered with oil because they can spontaneously ignite if exposed to oxygen. And, that’s just the beginning of some of the high-risk and hazardous materials that may be buried underground.

“This is one of the most challenging cleanup projects at the Hanford Site, because the records don’t tell us exactly what’s buried here, but the information we do have indicates we’ll encounter some of the most hazardous waste on the site,” said Mark French, the Department of Energy’s Federal Project Director for the River Corridor Closure Project.

Workers are digging a series of test pits within the six-acre burial ground to help identify some of the contents, which is where the drums, cask and other debris were found.

The burial ground contains low-level waste and some highly radioactive waste from Hanford’s reactor fuel development and manufacturing facilities. The wastes were buried in 12 trenches and 94 vertical pipe units from March 1954 through September 1963. The vertical pipe units are five, 55-gallon drums welded end-to-end and buried vertically in the soil, into which radioactive wastes were disposed.

Available records indicate the buried wastes include radiologically contaminated laboratory instruments, bottles, boxes, filters, aluminum cuttings, metallurgical samples, electrical equipment, lighting fixtures, barrels, laboratory equipment and hoods, and high-dose-rate wastes in shielded (or concreted) drums…..

Based on the discovery of the first drum and other evidence, Darby said they have revised their estimate of the number of drums they might find from 700 to 2,000 – containing uranium shavings, uranium oxide and other highly radioactive materials.

For a lot of the material, disposal will not be as simple as hauling it for burial in Hanford’s central cleanup landfill, the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility…….

Hazardous materials removed from burial ground in Hanford – KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA |

August 28, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive