• July 16, 2012
• By Jeremy Carroll

The U.S. Energy Department has begun moving highly radioactive sludge away from the Columbia River in Richland, Wash., the agency announced.

At the Hanford Site, a former nuclear production facility, workers transferred the first large container of sludge from a basin next to a former plutonium production reactor to dry storage in the center of the site, the agency said.

CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company is doing the work. The recent transfer of materials is the first of six shipments expected this summer to move the sludge away from the Columbia River. A separate system is being built to remove the rest of the sludge from the basin by the end of 2015, the agency said.

"This sludge has been stored underwater in the basin for more than 30 years, and today marks a turning point in our cleanup," said Matt McCormick, manager of the Richland Operations Office, in a statement. "This is a great step toward reducing risk to the Columbia River."

 

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