nuclear-news

Hanford officials lied to authorities about radioactive leak

Title: Hanford officials hid leak evidence from advisory panel
Source: KING 5
Author: SUSANNAH FRAME 
Date: May 21, 2013

A government-chartered advisory panel was told last September that materials spotted outside the inner wall of a tank holding radioactive waste at the Hanford Site were possibly the result of a “carbonate buildup,” “cross-contamination” or “rainwater leakage.” […]

On Aug. 13, the results were sent to multiple [Washington River Protection Solutions] officials showing measurable amounts of Cesium-137 and Strontium-90, two highly radioactive elements that are a byproduct of nuclear fission. Trace amounts of Plutonium 239/240 and Americium-241 were also detected.

A reference to the results in a Leak Assessment Report made public on Nov. 7 says the materials were registering 800,000 dpm (disintegrations per minute), a high level of radioactivity that had never been found in that portion of the tank before. […]

“This was a very deliberate cover up and I will use the word that we were lied to. There’s no two ways about it, we were lied to,” said state Rep. [Gerry] Pollet. […]

Anchor: “Susannah, amazing stuff, thank you.”

May 25, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Resources -audiovicual, USA