Hanford’s Radioactive Waste-Filled Tunnel 2 Set For Grouting After Comment And Study Process
Another large tunnel of radioactive waste will be grouted closed at Hanford. That was the decision Friday by the Washington Department of Ecology.
The long process goes back to when another tunnel, simply called Tunnel 1, partially collapsed in May 2017.
This so-called Tunnel 2 is much larger than Tunnel 1. Both tunnels run underground near the moth-balled PUREX plant at Hanford.
Tunnel 2 is nearly 1,700 feet long and filled with 28 rail cars full of chemical and radioactive waste. It’s mostly large and failed equipment that was too radioactive to store elsewhere.
Stephanie Schlief is the project manager for the tunnels for the state Ecology Department. She says if there was a collapse of Tunnel 2, it’d be potentially bad.
“There’s always the potential for there to be an exposure scenario to either people or workers out there, that could possibly have a release of radioactive material,” Schlief said.
More than 5,000 truckloads of grout will be used to fill up Tunnel 2. Critics say that much grout means the two tunnels will likely become a permanent near-surface waste dump. But federal contractors say the grout and radioactive equipment could be removed in the future.
WATCH: How Hanford’s Tunnel 1 Failed
Related Stories:
Hanford Contractors Settle $58 Million Claim Over Fraudulent Labor Billing Practices
Under the settlement, Bechtel Corp. and Aecom will pay nearly $58 million over allegations from current or former Hanford employees. The workers said they were retaliated against for blowing the whistle over how labor hours were billed. Continue Reading Hanford Contractors Settle $58 Million Claim Over Fraudulent Labor Billing Practices
An Atomic Bomb Survivor On Her Journey From Revenge To Peace
It’s been 75 years since the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks to Koko Kondo, who was an infant when one of those bombs was dropped on Hiroshima. Continue Reading An Atomic Bomb Survivor On Her Journey From Revenge To Peace
75 Years After Bombings, Tri-Cities Musician’s Jazz Album Explores Complicated Hanford History
Denin Koch’s trip to the Hanford B Reactor when he was 19 stirred his musical passion. It eventually inspired a full jazz album exploring the complicated history of Hanford, 75 years after the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan ended WWII. Continue Reading 75 Years After Bombings, Tri-Cities Musician’s Jazz Album Explores Complicated Hanford History
