A new report released by the Washington State Department of Ecology shows that a huge underground storage tank of nuclear waste has begun to leak. The waste poses a significant threat to the Columbia River, one of the largest rivers in the United States.
The report, released in late April, said it had determined that a waste storage tank at the Hanford Site was leaking nuclear waste into the land at a rate of 3.5 gallons per day, contaminating both the land and groundwater resources, and that the situation had been ongoing for some time.
The Hanford Site is located in the town of Hanford, Washington, USA. During World War II, the United States used plutonium to make nuclear weapons here. After decommissioning it became the largest radioactive nuclear waste disposal area in the United States, holding 123,000 gallons of remaining waste. It is located just 10 miles from the Columbia River.
CBS CBS reports that an estimated total of 67 tanks are leaking or have leaked in the area.
The Office of Ecology estimates that the land to which this waste tank is leaking already contains at least 200,000 gallons of nuclear waste contamination from other waste storage tanks. This newly discovered leak makes the situation even worse.
The Hanford area is already contaminated with an estimated 1 million gallons of nuclear waste, and this discovery of another tank has begun to leak,” said Laura Watson, head of the Washington Department of Ecology. This shows the urgent need to mobilize resources to address the problem of the Hanford District’s aging waste tanks. These tanks will eventually become completely obsolete and keep leaking.”
Since the late 1980s, workers have been actively cleaning up and disposing of this waste to reduce the risk of contamination. The Washington Department of Ecology, the National Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the federal Department of Energy had signed a three-way agreement to work together on disposal.
But to this day, there are still about 60 square miles of groundwater that exceeds national standards for contamination, the Ecology Department said.
Watson said, “These spills do not currently pose an immediate threat to workers or the general public, but it exacerbates an ongoing environmental threat in the Hanford area.”
Three government agencies are negotiating what steps to take to address it. The issue is becoming increasingly urgent.
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