OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Radioactive waste tanks may be
leaking some 1,000 gallons per year at Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday officials are still evaluating how to
effectively remove the remaining material from the problematic tanks.
The 1,000-gallon figure is a rough estimate based on
the early assessment of six identified leakers. Inslee said the leakage numbers
are still being evaluated to determine exactly how much has been lost and how
fast the waste is leaving the tanks.
Inslee said there's no available technology to plug
the leaks, so federal and state officials are working to find the best
available solution to remove the sludge. Inslee said that solution could come
in weeks or months.
"We want to find the most expeditious way to
get this job done," Inslee said.
Hanford has 177 aging tanks that store millions of
gallons of radioactive sludge. Inslee said faulty data analysis meant officials
did not properly catch signs of leaking before now, and Inslee expressed
concern about the other tanks at the reservation.
Federal officials say there is no immediate threat
to public safety and that they have not detected any discernible change in
contamination levels in monitoring wells.
The federal government built the Hanford facility in
south-central Washington at the height of World War II as part of the Manhattan
Project to build the atomic bomb. Now the tanks at Hanford hold some 53 million
gallons of highly radioactive waste.
Leakage has been a problem in the past, with an
estimated 1 million gallons of radioactive liquid having already leaked, but
the tanks were believed to have been stabilized in 2005.
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