Hanford cleanup progress review sought – Yakima Herald-Republic

YAKIMA, Wash. -- U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse is one of a bipartisan group of Congress members asking the federal government to review the progress of years of cleanup work at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, in light of the partial collapse of a tunnel containing radioactive wastes earlier this month.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said lawmakers sent a letter Wednesday to the Government Accountability Office asking for the review.

Hanford for decades made plutonium for nuclear weapons, and the government has spent some $19 billion cleaning up the resulting wastes. The work is expected to last until 2060 and cost another $100 billion.

The bipartisan group of seven lawmakers, most from the Northwest, wrote that they were alarmed by the recent tunnel collapse and were concerned that future events could put the safety of workers, the public and environment at risk.

The event was another harsh reminder of the radioactive and toxic hazards that remain at the Hanford Site, as well as the importance of ensuring the site has the resources necessary to expeditiously achieve its cleanup mission, the letter said.

The request came after the partial collapse May 9 of a tunnel that has stored highly radioactive waste since the 1960s with no plans made yet for its permanent disposal.

Among the lawmakers: Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Rep. Newhouse; Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.; Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J. Walden is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Pallone is ranking member of the committee.

The request came a day after the administration of President Donald Trump submitted a proposed budget to Congress that calls for a cut of nearly $124 million to the budget of the Hanford Richland Operations Office, dropping it to $716 million.

In recent years, much of the Richland Operations Offices work has been focused on cleanup of contaminated buildings and waste sites closest to the Columbia River. The plan has been to next turn to central Hanford, which has more than 1,000 waste sites and about 500 facilities, many of them highly contaminated with radioactive and toxic chemical waste, plus contaminated soil and groundwater.

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Hanford cleanup progress review sought - Yakima Herald-Republic