WASH. GOVERNOR WANTS DOE TO ACCELERATE HANFORD TANK CLEANUP

In the wake of the Department of Energy’s recent announcement that a damaged Hanford double-shell waste tank may now be leaking into the ground, Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) said late last week that he will be “insisting” that DOE accelerate its efforts to address all of Hanford’s aging waste tanks. Late on June 20, DOE announced that “increased levels of contamination” had been found during a routine survey of the leak detection pit at Tank AY-102, which had been previously found to be leaking waste into the space between its inner and outer shells. “This is most disturbing news for Washington. It is not clear yet whether that contamination is coming directly from the outer shell of the AY-102 but it must be treated with the utmost seriousness,” Inslee said in a June 21 statement.

Inslee said the tank does not currently pose a threat to public health. “Our state experts confirm that there is no immediate public health threat. Given the relatively early detection of this potential leak, the river is not at immediate risk of contamination should it be determined that a leak has occurred outside the tank,” he said, adding,  “The Secretary [of Energy] assured me that USDOE will respond swiftly and with all actions necessary to determine the condition of the AY-102.” In a separate statement, new DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz said the Department would move to pump waste from the tank if a leak in its outer shell is found. “The Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection is conducting tests to confirm that the heightened radiation is a result of leaks from tank AY-102.  If that is indeed confirmed to be the case, the Department will pump the liquid material from the tank. The Office of River Protection is already beginning the process to put the necessary infrastructure in place to do so,” Moniz said.