Cle lean an Up Han anford: There's no tim ime to was aste. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Cle lean an Up Han anford: There's no tim ime to was aste.

Ph Photo: Dan Se Serres, , Columbia Ri River erkeep eeper er. . White Bluffs. . 2017.

Han Hanford d Nuc uclear lear Sit ite

• 586 square miles
• Hanford Reach – 50-mile stretch of

relatively free-flowing Columbia River

• Most contaminated site in the

Western Hemisphere

• For over 40 years, the United States

produced plutonium for nuclear weapons, and released hundreds of billions of gallons of liquid chemical and radioactive waste into the soil and groundwater.

WESF Location. Source: U.S. DOE. 2020.

Agi Aging ng Struc uctur ures s publ public hea hearing ng, , comment:

• 3 structures
• 2 Cribs, 1 settling tank
• Large quantities of plutonium (relative to
• ther sites)
• Hearing May 7. Comment through May 22.
• Link to DOE website:

https://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/Docum ents/Environmental/CentralPlateauAgingStr ucturesRiskStabilization

• More Info at ColumbiaRiverkeeper.org:

https://www.columbiariverkeeper.org/new s/2020/4/aging-infrastructure-hanford- threatens-columbia-river

Images: U.S. DOE, accessed April 2020. Left: Z-9 crib, Center: Settling Tank, Right: Subsidence above a crib.

“P “Plutonium is forever... ... The Board advises the U.S. Department

• f Energy (DOE) to get as much plutonium out of these waste

sites as possible.”

– Hanford Advisory Board, Advice 247, June 2011 :

Ea Earthquake sends Warning: Ma March 31, 31, 2020.

• 2020. 5:52p

5:52pm

• 6.5 magnitude
• NE of Stanley, Idaho
• Rumble felt in Cove, OR to Boise, ID and

beyond

• Earth movement in eastern Washington
• Earth movement could be triggered at

the Hanford site with a major earthquake

• Aging concrete infrastructure contains

millions of curies of radioactive material

• At risk of collapse under normal

conditions (tunnel collapse in 2017)

Hanford Nuclear Site Idaho Earthquake

Earthquake map. USGS. March 2020.

Wa Waste Encapsulation St Storage Facility (WESF SF)

• The Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility (WESF)

provides underwater storage for 1,936 highly radioactive capsules containing the elements cesium and strontium.

• From CH2M, “WESF is an aging facility, and DOE is

evaluating alternatives for placing the capsules in dry

• storage. Dry storage would eliminate the possibility of

a release of radioactive material in the unlikely event

• f a major earthquake that might result in loss of pool

storage water and overheating and breach of one or more capsules.”

• “The removal of these capsules into dry storage is now

a very high priority. If the basins, or a pipe under the basins, were to fail, and the basin water levels fell below the top of the capsules, the radiation levels would become so intense that no one could ever approach the building again...This would be a Chernobyl-scale accident. It must be prevented.” – Dirk Dunning, Retired Hanford Expert, September 2017

Photo: WESF capsules. Cherenkov Radiation. U.S. DOE. 2020

“T “The De Department of

• f Energy

gy appears s to

• be backpedaling

g on

• n moving

g hi highl hly radi dioact ctive e capsul ules es to safer er storage e at Ha Hanford d anytime e soon.” .” – Cleaning up Hanford’s ‘greatest risk’ and other radioactive waste could be

shelved for 10 years. Annette Cary. Tri-City Herald. March 10, 2020.

Ta Take Act Action:

• 1. Sign the petition urging Department of Energy to invest in urgent, robust

cleanup - https://www.columbiariverkeeper.org/petition-hanford

• 2. Attend an upcoming hearing (virtual or in person)
• 3. Share this video about the Hanford Nuclear Site –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcA7JXD4mAM&t=5s

• Learn more at ColumbiaRiverkeeper.org
• Follow us on twitter, instagram and facebook

Cl Clean Up Up Hanford: Th There's no time to waste.

WESF ”hot cells”. Photo. U.S. DOE. 2020.