Hanford Waste Treatment Plant

Washington State Officials 'Extremely Disappointed' Over Key Hanford Deadlines

Anna King — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 23:49:45 +0000

Washington Governor Jay Inslee and the state attorney general say they’re "extremely disappointed" that the U.S. Department of Energy may miss several key deadlines for cleanup at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Swallows Bring Radioactive Soil Into Hanford Waste Plant

Anna King — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 23:22:48 +0000

Workers are back on the job at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation’s waste treatment plant. Work stopped this week when radioactive soil was found under the nests of some swallows.

Swallows used some radioactive mud to make nests on exposed beamwork in Hanford’s waste treatment plant. That’s the $12 billion factory designed to bind-up radioactive sludge in glass logs.

Hanford Cleanup Slows While Tanks Leak, Treatment Plant Stalls

Anna King — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:01:01 +0000

At the Hanford Nuclear Reservation more than 200 employees received layoff notices this month. There could be 2,500 furloughs, all because of the federal budget cuts known as the sequester. That would further slow cleanup at the southeast Washington site. Meanwhile, radioactive waste at Hanford continues to leak from underground tanks.

Federal Report Blasts Hanford's Waste Treatment Plant Project

Anna King — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 01:07:58 +0000

RICHLAND, Wash. – A federal watchdog agency says work should stop on parts of Hanford’s troubled Waste Treatment Plant. That’s the complex factory in southeast Washington being built to treat 56 million gallons of radioactive waste. A new report out Friday says the project will cost even more and take even longer.

The new report by the federal Government Accountability Office says the U.S. has paid contractors millions of dollars for work they didn’t do right.

Former Manager Calls For Work On Hanford Plant To Stop

Anna King — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:26:17 +0000

Federal and state officials announced this week that construction can partially resume at Hanford’s massive waste treatment plant now that some technical problems have been resolved. But a top former Hanford manager is calling for the Secretary of Energy to halt work altogether on the southeast Washington project.