26 May, 2017

"The Most Contaminated Nuclear Site in the United States"



Hanford nuclear weapons site is just 200 miles southwest of Seattle and is the site of one of the most troubling ongoing nuclear leakages in the United States. Simply stated the plant is falling apart and in dire need of repair. It has been thought that a very large double shell nuclear waste holding tank is leaking boiling radioactive chemical waste.
The holding tank is 41 years old and now more incidents involving workers showing contamination suggest that a second tank is also failing after a tunnel collapse.

  An article in the Wall Street Journal by Jim Carlton cited a joint letter by Governor Kate Brown of Oregon and Washington Governor Jay Inslee as stating, “The May 9th incident should serve as an urgent reminder of the challenges in cleaning up the Hanford site that require a rededication of attention and resources in order to ensure progress continues moving forward,” the governors said in their letter to the Republican president. “The longer it takes to clean up the facilities and structures that store mixed chemical and radioactive waste, the farther and farther they get past their useful lives—causing degradation and more risk of failing.”

Read this article on the Hanford situation titled, What it Took to Demolish the Most Infamous Room at the Hanford Nuclear Site.

While many demand more nuclear plants they do not understand that there is a lack of knowledge and ability to control what we already have.
When you consider that handling nuclear waste is an eternal problem with no solution, it should give pause to any sane person.
Consider Fukushima where they have no idea what to do to stop the meltdown and contain the radiation.

Washington Public Health ran an article on Hanford titled, Hanford's Lethal Legacy.

 Hanford is currently the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States and you can read more on this at Wikipedia.

The infrastructure of the USA is failing. Roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, trains, electrical grids and nuclear facilities.
It is past time to demand action on these things before it is too late.

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