Posts under ‘Hanford’

Coalition Urges US Energy Secretary Chu to Withdraw Decision to Use Hanford as a National Radioactive Waste Dump

May 6th, 2010

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On April 29, 2010, a coalition of Northwest environmental and public health groups, including the Rosemere Neighborhood Association, sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, urging him to withdraw the Department of Energy’s decisions to use Hanford, WA, as a national radioactive waste dump.

The letter requests:

“that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) withdraw its 2000 and 2004 Records of Decision selecting Hanford as a disposal site for large volumes of radioactive low-level waste (LLW) and mixed low-level waste (MLLW) from across the Nation. The Department’s own draft Tank Closure and Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement (TC&WM EIS) clearly demonstrates that importing and burying off-site waste at Hanford poses serious human health and environmental impacts.

Hanford: Proposed Settlement Could Allow for Decades of Cleanup Delays and “Hottest” Nuclear Waste to be Shipped to Hanford Nuclear Reservation

Oct 31st, 2009

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The states of Oregon and Washington, having filed suit against the US Department of Energy in 2008, have negotiated a court-enforceable settlement agreement regarding continuing cleanup activities at Hanford nuclear reservation. Hanford is the most heavily contaminated facility in the western hemisphere with 53 million gallons of radioactive waste at 194 million Curies, the measure of radioactive potency.

The core of the settlement agreement focuses on languishing federal efforts to empty 140 remaining single shell storage tanks of radioactive sludge, and the severely delayed construction of the largest radioactive waste treatment facility in the US. Almost half of the single shell storage tanks are known to be leaking into the soil and to have infiltrated the groundwater in the Hanford plateau. This radioactive spill is moving toward the Columbia River and will reach the shoreline within 20-50 years according to current estimates. A seismic event could increase the speed of travel.

Heart of America NW Offers Free Screening of Hanford Documentary in Vancouver

Sep 29th, 2009

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Heart of America NW is holding a free screening of the documentary ARID LANDS at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Vancouver, WA. ARID LANDS is a internationally acclaimed documentary is about the land and people of the Columbia River Basin in Eastern WA – home to the Hanford nuclear site – the largest environmental clean-up [...]

More Delays At Hanford Cleanup

May 14th, 2009

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A public meeting and hearing was conducted by the Hanford Tri-Party Agencies to discuss a tentative agreement to modify cleanup action plans at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Tri-Party officials present included Matt McCormick, Dave Brockman, and Stacy Charboneau, U.S. Department of Energy; Ron Skinnarland, Washington State Department of Ecology; and Rod Lobos, US Environmental Protection Agency.

Letter to Elected Officials About Hanford – December 11, 2006)

Apr 4th, 2009

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Posted 6:30 PM PST, December 11, 2006

To: Various Elected Officials representing Southwest Washington

Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray, Brian Baird, Richard Curtis, Deb Wallace, Jim Moeller, Craig Pridemorem, Bill Fromhold

From: Rosemere Neighborhood Association

Hanford is considered to be one the nation’s worst contaminated nuclear sites with cleanup expected to cost $60 billion and cleanup work to continue through 2035. The site is an environmental nightmare that includes groundwater contaminated with radioactive waste, and the salmon that spawn in the area are known to be reversing sexes due to contaminants in the Columbia River (which could cause the extinction of salmon runs in that area).

Hanford News Website – April 2, 2006

Apr 4th, 2009

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www.HanfordNews.com

From the Tri-City Herald, a website archive of Hanford, Department of Energy and other nuclear related stories and information.

Public Hearing on the Future of Hanford Cleanup – March 23, 2006

Apr 4th, 2009

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On March 22, 2006, the RNA along with Columbia Riverkeeper, Hanford Watch, Heart of America, and other volunteers attended a public hearing at the Red Lion Convention Center in Portland to discuss proposed cleanup efforts at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. This meeting was facilitated by the US Department of Energy (USDOE), and the Washington State Department of Ecology. This was a “scoping” meeting, where members of the public could state for the record what they wanted to see in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

WA Department of Ecology requests comments on Hanford Cleanup – September 8, 2004

Apr 2nd, 2009

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Hanford Cleanup

The Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) requests public feedback on proposed permit modifications for continued construction of Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant. This plant will convert radioactive liquid waste that is stored underground into immobilized glass using the process of vitrification. The DOE claims that this process will stabilize the radioactive waste and make it safer for long-term storage.

Cleaning up Hanford – What Senators Murray and Cantwell are doing about Hanford – June 11, 2004

Mar 29th, 2009

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Correspondence Received from the State Attorney General’s Office Regarding Contaminants at Hanford Nuclear Reservation

I am an Assistant Attorney General assigned to work on Hanford cleanup issues, including the high-level waste issues referred to in your letter. Most of the high-level radioactive waste at the Hanford site is stored in 177 massive, aging underground storage tanks. The U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) has stored waste in these tanks for decades, and the older single-shell tanks are many years beyond their design life.