Six more radioactive waste leaks announced at Hanford Nuclear Plant

Carol Forsloff ----The Governor of the State of Washington, Jay Inslee, has announced that U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told him today that radioactive waste is seeping out of six tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Plant.

"There is no immediate or near-term health risk associated with these newly discovered leaks, which are more than 5 miles from the Columbia River," Inslee maintained in an official statement, "But nonetheless this is disturbing news for all Washingtonians." The Governor said Chu advised him that evaluators had missed the other five leaks, when reporting the one leaking last week.

"This certainly raises serious questions about the integrity of all 149 single-shell tanks with radioactive liquid and sludge at Hanford," he said.

The newest discovery verifies the concern scientists have mentioned for a number of years about the risks at Hanford. And although Inslee says there is no immediate risk to the people in the surrounding area, people who are referred to as "downwinders" and some of the Native Americans of the area have been concerned about the potential risks for many years, pointing to a variety of health problems which they maintain are related to exposure to radioactive material "downwind," in nearby areas.

Hanford's research and development of nuclear energy came about in response to the Cold War concerns, and even though most of the plant reactors have been shut down, the problem now has to do with the encasement of the radioactive waste. Scientists have underlined the poor quality of design and development of the new structures that are to protect the environment from radioactive waste.

Hanford Challenge, an activist group in the Seattle area, reported in January that Gary Brunson,  who had been the U.S. Department of Energy’s engineering division director for the Waste Treatment Plant at Hanford, resigned his post because of his frustrations referencing the work being done at Hanford.



Construction at Hanford’s Waste Treatment plant, 2009.

Brunson reportedly sent a memo to Chu on December 19, 2012. The memo states the plant may have fatal design flaws and that there is  a “compelling body of objective evidence” of quality problems at the plan.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who is the new chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that oversees the Hanford cleanup,  toured the Hanford site this week and said about the cleanup effort, “This is not acceptable for a plant that is, in theory, more than half complete.” Consequently Wyden says he will hold hearings on Hanford to make the issue a bigger priority in the U.S. Senate.

“This should represent an unacceptable risk to the Pacific Northwest for everyone,” Wyden said. “These are problems that have to be solved.” Scientists have agreed with this conclusion. There is also the issue that the treatment plan at Hanford may not be done by the 2019 deadline. The issue has to do with the deterioration of the structures now containing the radioactive waste.

Scientists are also concerned because of the potential for seismic activity in that region surrounding Hanford, with worries that extend to California to the South and Canada to the North.

Robert Alvarez, a senior policy adviser to the U.S. Department of Energy during the Clinton administration, said the 27-year-old Hanford reactor “fits the profile of what we need to be concerned about.” He said this is because the boiling water reactor is similar to Japan, also in an area where there was earthquake potential. The specific fault in question extends from Whidbey Island in Puget Sound to Pasco, Washington, one of the Tri-Cities that include Richland and Kennewick.

Hanford Nuclear Plant to be target of major weekend demonstrations

[caption id="attachment_3526" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Nuclear plume at Hanford"][/caption]

This weekend people will be arriving in Richland, Washington, a town just on the outskirts of the Hanford Nuclear Plant, in protest of the nuclear waste that could cause a serious explosion and create a disaster much greater than Japan's earthquake, environmentalists maintain.

Individuals from the Portland Occupy community, religious groups, ordinary citizens and members of the media are traveling on Sunday for an afternoon protest in the central area of Richland.

The Tri-Cities, Pasco, Kennewick and Richland, are the major populated areas most directly effected by the Hanford Nuclear plant and waste dump that is reported by many scientists to be the most toxic place on earth.

GHN's Journal of Humanitarian Affairs will be on hand this weekend to cover the events.  This author lived in both Pasco and Richland during the early 1960's when most people were innocent of the environmental risks caused by nuclear waste.

Years later nuclear energy, which is touted by many as a solution to the energy crisis, remains part of a major debate on how to develop alternatives for gas and oil.  It also remains worrisome to the many West Coast residents, from Oregon to Canada, who could be impacted by a major accident at the Hanford Plant.

Pacific Northwest potential for major earthquake mirroring Japan

[caption id="attachment_14316" align="alignleft" width="300"] Japan earthquake[/caption]

In an area considered by a number of scientists to be among the most dangerous in relationship to nuclear waste,  geologists have discovered new fault lines in the earth crust.  They maintain these fault lines could cause an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5, near an area of significant risk to the Pacific Northwest.

The Columbia Generating Station is located on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation seeking an operating license through 2023.

History records the development of nine plutonium production reactors at Hanford.  They encompass a 14 mile length in southeastern Washington, outside the spralling Tri-cities of Pasco, Kennewick and Richland.  These reactors were built during the war and at one time were estimated to produce ¼ of the world’s supply of plutonium.  The B Reactor was, according to records, the first complete nuclear reactor in world history.

The problem is the waste management from the closed plants and the potential risks related to it.  Added to the concerns about earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest, the reactors, along with the fault lines recently discovered, are of significant concern to scientists, especially since the Japanese quake of 2011.

According to recent news reports, plant operators at Hanford are ahead of schedule in cocooning the waste so that the product contamination does not affect the environment,  the ground water and the Columbia River that runs through the area and winds through Washington and Oregon.

The annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science is in progress, as scientists examine a variety of issues involving climate change,  geological concerns and other scientific issues affecting the globe.    John Anderson of the University of Nevada has underlined the seriousness of the earthquake potential in the Northwest as this:  "The ground motions that we have from Tohoku (Japan) may actually be an indication that there could be much stronger shaking in the coastal areas of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.”

Add the nuclear reactor generator and the Hanford Plant, with three reactors yet to cocoon, and the concern for an earthquake of major proportions worries scientists now studying the environment of the Pacific Northwest and the similar issues facing it that resemble those of Japan.

Nuclear dump in Washington considered significant environmental threat

Carol Forsloff - While Japan's nuclear disaster has been high-profile news,  national front page news has not assessed the serious risks that some scientists maintain can create devastating environmental and human harm from a nuclear dump in Washington State, referred to by one writer as "America's nuclear bomb."

[caption id="attachment_3526" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Nuclear plume at Hanford"][/caption]

To understand the issues involving Hanford, one must travel back to its history, which began in 1943 with the development of nuclear weapons.  Hanford was one of the key sites in that development.  It is located several miles outside of Richland, Washington, and was placed in the middle of farmlands, and gradually expanded with additional reactors.  Former President Kennedy visited Hanford in the early 1960's to celebrate the building of one of them.

The plant was closed due to safety violations in 1986.  Since then there have been lawsuits involving the health of residents of Central Washington State as well as environmental questions.  At the time of closing, the Department of Energy expressed concerns that workers at the plant had violated rules that could lead to a nuclear explosion.

Members of the Tri-Cities communities, consisting of Pasco, Kennewick and Richland, have met with federal officials over many years in relationship to environmental and health concerns.   Agencies even in Canada have been concerned enough about the environmental impacts to have studied the effect on geese in a region within the Hanford reach.  Elevated toxins have been found, however they have not been significant enough to warrant concern.  However, other scientists continue to raise questions about the health and environment of the area.

Leonard Schroeter, an attorney, wrote a comprehensive narrative relating his concerns, as an attorney, about what he considered to be a series of cover-ups involving Hanford and the experimentation he believes became the lot of people and the environment of the area.  His was one of a number of voices raised over the years.  Other books, including Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide point to the increase in lupus of the Nez Perce who live along the Columbia River.   Wikipedia has an expanded list of notations on adverse health effects linked to the Hanford Plant, despite the fact that some courts have examined individual and class action claims and not supported them.  Whereas these sources may be questioned by researchers, mental experts have recently noted the overall accuracy in medical reporting by this online reference site.  While cases continue in court on health claims of people known as the "Downwinders," science has shown women exposed to higher than normal radiation have more risk for cancer than men and also a higher rate of birth defects and infertility.

The Hanford Advisory Board is a watchdog that advises the Department of Energy, Washington Department of Ecology and the Environmental Protection Agency (the Tri-Party Agencies--TPA) on the cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.  The Board says, “ The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is the largest nuclear waste dump in the Western Hemisphere and a major Northwest environmental issue. It is a serious long-term threat to the Columbia River, which Oregon depends on for power generation, farm irrigation, fishing, transport and recreation.”

The thesis of the Advisory Board is further developed in an article entitled, “Big Cleanup Questions Still Loom for Hanford” where the author points out the huge costs so far of cleanup that more than two decades has not been completed, with $12.9 billion in funding to date. The cleanup plant is only half constructed and the problems of waste removal and protection of the environment have yet to be resolved for 53 million tons of radioactive waste.   The problem references easte held in concrete and carbon-steel tanks that are past their recognized expiration date for safety.  A million gallons of radioactive goo has already spilled into the ground, on its way to the Columbia River, according to the author of this article, who further describes the problems that can be caused by dangerous gases and explosions.

An online newspaper describes how Hanford is “America’s nuclear bomb.” The author quotes Stewart Udall:Stewart, who served as secretary of the interior under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson,  who reportedly called Hanford the "most tragic chapter in American Cold War history."  He goes on to write, about journalist Michael D'Antonio and his 1993 book Atomic Harvest, " their tale is one of thousands of horror stories that took place in the area surrounding Hanford, Washington, the site of America's first full-scale plutonium production facility. The site haunts the locals to this day -- and imperils them.

Hanford is America's original atomic sin. At this giant facility sprawled over 586 square miles (1,517 square kilometers), a four-hour drive southeast of Seattle into the vast emptiness of Eastern Washington, the United States once produced most of its nuclear raw materials for the Cold War. Though it was decommissioned in 1988, it remains the most contaminated location in the entire Western Hemisphere."

While the author of Atomic Harvest and sources outside the United States, as well as scientists, have their detractors, the potential environmental risks remain of serious agreed concern by experts from a variety of sources.

Yet the government and the media have not highlighted the issue, critics say, of what might have the potential to be a terrible nuclear accident of major proportions given the present risks.