Hanford cleanup plans released

SPOKANE — The U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday issued its final cleanup plan for the 300 Area of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, which for decades made plutonium for nuclear weapons and is the nation’s most polluted nuclear site.

It is the first of six plans that will cover more than 200 square miles of the sprawling Hanford Nuclear Reservation just north of Richland along the Columbia River.

The plan proposes digging up contaminated soil and waste sites, treating the waste as needed and disposing of most of it in a Hanford landfill. It also addresses a uranium groundwater plume beneath the area that allows contaminated water to flow into the Columbia River.

But the head of a watchdog group criticized the decision not to remove all the radioactive soil, which the Energy Department says would have cost more than $1 billion.

Cleanup of the 300 Area, which covers about 40 square miles, has been underway since the 1990s and is expected to be completed by fall 2015.

The plan is a step in the lengthy process of finding future uses for the Hanford site, which is about half the size of Rhode Island. A portion of the 300 Area traditionally used as an industrial complex is expected to be made available for industrial use down the road and the rest to be used for conservation purposes.

The 300 Area started operations in 1943, conducting research and turning uranium into fuel for Hanford reactors that produced plutonium, the document said. The plutonium was used for nuclear weapons. The Hanford site is now engaged in cleaning up the resulting radioactive wastes.

The Energy Department has said it plans to clean the 300 Area to standards needed for unrestricted surface use of the land.

One of the key parts of the cleanup is dealing with contaminated groundwater that’s seeping into the Columbia River.

The plan calls for adding a binding solution to contaminated soil in the 300 Area to reduce the movement of contamination to the groundwater. Phosphate would be added, which combines with uranium to make a material that does not readily dissolve in water.

Tom Carpenter, director of the watchdog group Hanford Challenge, criticized that decision, saying the radioactive waste should instead be removed.

“With a half-life for uranium-238 at over 4 billion years, this hardly seems wise or desirable to abandon this waste next to the second-most powerful river in the nation,” Carpenter said.

The Energy Department has said about 330 pounds of uranium per year is released to the Columbia River from the Hanford 300 Area. But that is dwarfed by the 3,500 pounds of uranium a year released into the river from fertilizer and from uranium that’s naturally in the ground.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.