[CPEO-MEF] Hanford (WA) costs, leaks

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Hanford cleanup cost soars to $11.3 billion ... if Congress will pay

By LISA STIFFLER AND CHARLES POPE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER (WA)
May 1, 2006


It's costing Americans $1.4 million a day to build a facility to safely 
treat millions of gallons of radioactive and toxic waste stored in the 
Hanford Nuclear Reservation's leak-prone underground tanks.

When the project is completed, the bill could total $38 for every man, 
woman and child in the nation -- that's if the $11.3 billion price tag 
doesn't swell even further. It has nearly tripled in less than six 
years, making it a massive taxpayer burden.

This is a critical time for the project. An increasingly impatient 
Congress is now deciding how much money to contribute to the effort -- 
considered the most important step in the cleanup of the sprawling 
desert site on the Columbia River. Some fear lawmakers could simply wash 
their hands of it and walk away.

...

For the entire article, see
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/268605_hanford01.html

See also

Evidence of new leaks, group reports

Regulators say tanks are sound, but testing for spills is lacking

Monday, May 1, 2006

By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER (WA)
May 1, 2006

A watchdog group says it has discovered newer, larger leaks from 
Hanford's monstrous underground tanks than previously known.

State and federal regulators say the tanks are not leaking -- but admit 
that systems are lacking for detecting seepage from the aged vessels 
that bottom out 55 feet below the surface.

The report from Heart of America Northwest asserting problems with leaks 
has taken on an increased urgency. In recent months, Hanford's 
multibillion-dollar project to remove most of the 53 million gallons of 
radioactive and toxic waste from the tanks and turn it into a safer, 
glasslike compound has experienced escalating cost estimates. Its 
completion date has been pushed back by years.

...

For the entire article, see
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/268586_leaks01.html

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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