Six underground storage tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation along the Columbia River in the US state of Washington have been found to be leaking radioactive waste, but there is no immediate risk to human health, state and federal officials said.
[...]
The seeping waste adds to decades of soil contamination caused by leaking storage tanks at Hanford in the past and threatens to further taint groundwater below the site but poses no near-term danger of polluting the Columbia River, officials said.
"This certainly raises serious questions about the integrity of all 149 single-shell tanks with radioactive liquid and sludge at Hanford," [Governor Jay] Inslee said.
[...]
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 475 billion gallons of contaminated water have been discharged into the soil.
Under the multibillion-dollar cleanup plan, the waste from the storage tanks will eventually be processed in a special treatment plant that, in a process called "vitrification", will immobilise the waste in a glass-like material that can be safely disposed of underground in stainless steal canisters.
But Dahl said construction of the waste treatment plant was still years away.
alJazeera
[...]
The seeping waste adds to decades of soil contamination caused by leaking storage tanks at Hanford in the past and threatens to further taint groundwater below the site but poses no near-term danger of polluting the Columbia River, officials said.
"This certainly raises serious questions about the integrity of all 149 single-shell tanks with radioactive liquid and sludge at Hanford," [Governor Jay] Inslee said.
[...]
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 475 billion gallons of contaminated water have been discharged into the soil.
Under the multibillion-dollar cleanup plan, the waste from the storage tanks will eventually be processed in a special treatment plant that, in a process called "vitrification", will immobilise the waste in a glass-like material that can be safely disposed of underground in stainless steal canisters.
But Dahl said construction of the waste treatment plant was still years away.
alJazeera
If ever, considering the state of our economy....but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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