TROPHY ELK ILLEGALLY SHOT ON HANFORD LAND
WC Monitor
1/31/2014
Washington State Fish and Wildlife officials are looking for the antlers of a trophy bull elk illegally shot after hunters trespassed on Hanford land. Three men have been sentenced in a poaching case that involved two trophy bull elk shot on Hanford land closed to the public and another trophy bull elk killed nearby on the bank of the Columbia River, where hunting is not allowed. Daniel Charboneau, 29, was charged with shooting the largest of the animals, which was taken on Hanford, said Sgt. Brian Fulton with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Based on photos, it appears the Rocky Mountain elk’s antlers, which have not been found, would score close to, or more than, 400 on the Boone and Crockett Club measurement scale, he said. “It was a huge elk,” Fulton said. “He went out and killed a trophy elk in a place no one can legally hunt.”
The Rattlesnake Hills elk herd, which frequents Hanford, numbers about 700 and it tends to move onto Hanford during hunting season, said Heidi Newsome, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist. The men took boat trips up the Columbia River and entered the nuclear reservation near the former Hanford town site, Fulton said. The river along Hanford is marked with numerous “No Trespassing” signs and guns are not allowed on the site. Also sentenced in the case was Brock Miller, 27, who was charged with shooting two smaller trophy elk, and Miguel Berry, 26, who purchased an elk license and tag for one of the elk killed by Miller.
Miller was sentenced in October 2013 to 90 days in jail for hunting while trespassing and 364 days each for hunting big game without a tag and using another person’s tag. However, all three jail sentences were suspended for two years, pending his compliance with court requirements. He must pay a mandatory state criminal wildlife penalty of $6,000. Berry pleaded guilty to allowing another hunter to use his tag and was sentenced last month to 364 days in jail, which also was suspended for two years. Charboneau pleaded guilty to hunting big game without a tag and was sentenced last month to 364 days in jail, which was suspended for two year. Fulton said Charboneau also will be required to pay the $6,000 criminal wildlife penalty. The three men have been barred from hunting for two years. State officials recovered the other two sets of antlers from a taxidermist.
According to the Hanford employee database Charboneau is a safety specialist for Washington River Protection Solutions and Miller is employed at Hanford by a Washington Closure Hanford subcontractor, Wildlands, Inc.
DOE TO PAY $15,000 TO SETTLE WASTE CONCERNS
WC Monitor
1/31/2014
The Washington State Department of Ecology is fining the Department of Energy $261,000 but will forgive all but $15,000 if improvements in waste management are made on schedule. The settlement agreement between the two agencies was announced Jan. 24 by the state, which accused DOE of violating state dangerous waste regulations in central Hanford. As part of the agreement, DOE will not appeal. The fine was driven by two incidents. A drum leaked mixed waste onto the floor of the Waste Receiving and Processing Facility (WRAP) and mixed waste dripped from a 19-foot-long box of waste stored outside at the Central Waste Complex (CWC). The CWC stores waste, some of it suspect transuranic waste retrieved from temporary burial. Adjacent to it is the WRAP Facility, which is used to repackage and treat waste.
Workers discovered liquid near the leaking drum on the floor of WRAP in April 2011, but initially believed the floor was wet because of a leaking roof, according to state documents. Required weekly inspections were not performed for the next four weeks, according to documents. The state was not promptly notified, the drum leak was not immediately addressed and the leaking roof was not immediately fixed to meet standards for protecting waste, according to the state. The liquid from the drum, which came from the Radiochemical Processing Laboratory in the Hanford 300 Area, had a pH below 2, but the drum was not labeled to indicate corrosion was a risk, according to the state.
CWC Waste Box Issues
The box at issue at the CWC had been buried in dry soil from the 1970s to 2009 when it was dug up and taken to the complex’s storage yard. The box had been filled with general waste from the Plutonium Finishing Plant. Routine radiation detection discovered contamination on the outside of the box in December 2011, but the state was not notified as required, according to state documents. Liquid was spotted dripping from the box two months later, but spill containment pans were not used for three more days. Samples were not collected in the correct type of sampling bottles and staff did not follow established test and quality control procedures, according to the state.
DOE and CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. had failed to confirm the contents of the box when it arrived at the CWC yard, assuming based on historical knowledge that it did not contain liquids, according to the state. Daily inspections of the outdoor storage yard were required, but the inspections were done only weekly, according to the state. DOE said in spring 2012 that radiological contamination was at very low levels and that contamination on the outside of the box may have washed onto the ground. However, state documents said the box leaked liquids onto the ground. The box, which had a steel frame with concrete walls, floor and lid, had severe rust and other signs of deterioration, the state said, and DOE should have stored it differently or transferred its waste to a box in good condition.
DOE To Make Waste Mgmt. Improvements
DOE has agreed to make improvements to waste management at both facilities where the incidents occurred and at T Plant, which also stores some waste. “DOE cooperated with Ecology staff to identify fixes for the violations and concerns,” said Jane Hedges, the state’s Nuclear Waste Program manager. The improvements are underway. Requirements include fixing the roof at WRAP and reviewing the condition of the roofs of other structures. DOE also will review the condition of waste containers. Workers will be trained on requirements for notifying the state of incidents and immediate notification will be made, according to the state and DOE. Changes in sampling and identifying the chemical nature of wastes are being made. That includes more sampling of waste storage containers and more sampling of waste that is dug up to improve confidence in the accuracy of historical records of what waste was temporarily buried.
