Hanford leak no public health threat says Gov. Inslee
Jun 21, 2013, 3:12 PM | Updated: 4:13 pm
Governor Jay Inslee insisted there's no immediate public health threat from a newly discovered leak of radioactive waste at Hanford.
Governor Jay Inslee insisted there’s no immediate public health threat from a newly discovered leak of radioactive waste at Hanford.
The U.S. Energy Department reported Thursday that a routine pumping inspection revealed high levels of radioactivity outside both layers of a double-walled tank.
But Inslee also called on the Energy Department to pick up the pace of clean-up at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear waste site, which he called a moral and legal obligation. He said legal action is an option.
“The moment it becomes apparent to me that we are not getting the movement that we need, then we will take legal action,” Inslee said Friday, adding “that could be fairly shortly.
The watchdog group Hanford Challenge is calling for action now.
“We are calling for the Department of Energy to immediately build new tanks to be able to put waste from these tanks that are failing so we protect Washington groundwater,” said Tom Carpenter, the executive director of the Seattle-based organization.
The possible leak is beyond the outer tank in the leak detection pit.
“And that means it could be in the soil and headed for the groundwater and that is very serious news,” said Carpenter.
The tank in question, named AY-102, is one of 28 double walled tanks installed at Hanford when single shell tanks began to leak.
“Given the relatively early detection of this potential leak, the [Columbia] river is not at immediate risk of contamination should it be determined that a leak has occurred outside the tank,” the Governor said in a statement Friday.
The Energy Department revealed last year that AY-102 was leaking but it was believed that the leak was happening between the two shells of the tank.
“It’s not like they need to evacuate anything or that crops are unsafe or anything like that, it’s [that] you’ve got nuclear waste tanks currently leaking and the government has no real plan for what to do about that,” declared Carpenter.
The Energy Department recently gave the state a long term cleanup plan.
“I think we’ll be looking to see a revised plan from them that would reflect the level of urgency that this problem requires,” said Washington state Department of Ecology spokesman Erika Holmes on Friday.
