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For years, the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state produced plutonium for nuclear weapons. Although the plant stopped production in 1987, about 54 million gallons of radioactive waste are still stored at the site - and many of the 177 underground storage tanks are leaking. And now that almost a million gallons of that waste has leaked from tanks and entered the ground water supply, the Department of Energy has admitted that it doesn't know how to clean up the mess. The DOE once estimated that it would take 10,000 years for the waste to reach groundwater - but in 1997, they announced that the wastes were already there. A report issued last week by the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative department, said that the Department of Energy's understanding of how waste moves through the soil above the water table was "inadequate" to make decisions on how to handle the leak situation. In fact, said the report, the DOE "does not know what information is needed to make key cleanup decisions." The leaking wastes are a matter of concern for many in the area. The Columbia River runs southeastward through a portion of the reservation, several miles away from the nearest tank. In 1995, about 175,000 people lived immediately downstream from Hanford, in and near the towns of Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland. On this hour, the problems at Hanford - what programs exist to deal with nuclear waste - and what does this situation mean for Hanford's neighbors?
Guests: Casey Ruud Tom Carpenter Bill Madia Books/Articles Discussed: Related Links: |
