Leaking Wash. nuclear tank has yet to make 'significant changes' to soil

Reported by: The Associated Press

Contributor: Jennifer Meacham

OLYMPIA, Wash. (KOIN/AP) -- Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says the state is willing to resort to the legal system to push ahead with cleanup at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation after learning that a tank that holds radioactive liquids is leaking at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site.

The Democrat said Friday that the state has a good partner in Energy Secretary Steven Chu but that he's concerned about whether Congress is committed to the cleanup.

Inslee says the leak raises concerns about the integrity of other storage facilities at the highly contaminated site.

The tanks hold millions of gallons of a highly radioactive stew left from decades of plutonium production for nuclear weapons.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, this tank was classified as "an assumed leaker" in 1979. In February 1995, interim stabilization was completed for this tank.

Inslee said the tank is the first to have been documented to be losing liquids since all Hanford tanks were stabilized in 2005. His staff said the federal government is working to assess other tanks.

* The U.S. Department of Energy's statement on this reported leak.

The U.S. Department of Energy reports "Data indicates the current rate of loss of liquids from the tank could be in the range of 150 to 300 gallons over the course of a year."

The affected tank, Tank T-111, "is a 530,000-gallon capacity underground storage tank built between 1943-44, and put into service in 1945," DoE reports. "T-111 currently contains approximately 447,000 gallons of sludge, a mixture of solids and liquids with a mud-like consistency. There are a total of 177 tanks at the Hanford site."

Update: KOIN is checking into the risk this "leak" could pose to those in the Pacific Northwest.

Department of Energy Spokesperson Lori Gamache tells us that the siphoning off of "pumpable liquids" in 1995, leaving a "mud like" solution, "does reduce the risk in the tank." However, she says she can't say by how much -- or what radioactive chemicals remain -- until she's able to connect with subject-matter experts next week.

But, for those looking for consolation, "Around the T-farm we have monitoring wells," Gamache said. "And we haven't identified any significant changes in the concentration of chemicals or radionuclides in the soil."

Radionuclides are what can leach into ground water. Long-term exposure to high levels of radionuclides in drinking water may cause cancer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

* Photo gallery: Digging up chromium contamination from the D-Reactor area at Hanford

Although Gamache said levels aren't going up, it's still unclear as to where the levels are in the first place. At this point there has been no word of air contamination. (Check your wind direction.)

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is in Richland, Wash. -- about 220 miles east and slightly north of downtown Portland.

-- KOIN Web Producer Jennifer Meacham contributed information to this report, and continues to look into this issue for KOIN.com.

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