Possible new leak at Hanford State, higher radioactivity levels detected
Get short URL Published time: June 22, 2013 09:55
Hanford Nuclear Site Tank May Be Leaking Waste Into Soil
By SHANNON DININNY 06/21/13 09:03 PM ET EDT
State and federal officials have long said leaking tanks at Hanford do not pose an immediate threat to the environment or public health. The largest waterway in the Pacific Northwest – the Columbia River – is still at least 5 miles away and the closest communities are several miles downstream.
However, if this dangerous waste escapes the tank into the soil, it raises concerns about it traveling to the groundwater and someday potentially reaching the river.
Two radionuclides comprise much of the radioactivity in Hanford's tanks: cesium-137 and strontium-90. Both take hundreds of years to decay, and exposure to either would increase a person's risk of developing cancer.
The Energy Department announced last year that AY-102 was leaking between its two walls, but it said then that no waste had escaped.
However, Seattle television station KING5 has reported that the cleanup contractor and the department knew a year earlier that the tank was leaking.
At the height of World War II, the federal government created Hanford as part of a secret project to create the atomic bomb. The site ultimately produced plutonium for the world's first atomic blast and for one of the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan; it continued production through the Cold War.
These days, it has a reputation as the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, with a cleanup expected to take several decades. It costs up to US$2 billion annually and has already set taxpayers back US$40 billion, with US$115 billion more expected to be needed.
ハンフォード・サイトという原子爆弾のプルトニウムの精製が行われた場所で、放射性廃棄物が土中に漏れ、仮に地下水を通じて河に流れ出たらやばいんでは、と。
隠蔽があったのでは、と匂わせてますけど、いずれにせよ、当局が、
do not pose an immediate threat to the environment or public health
ただちに健康被害がない、という言い回しはどこの国でも同じなんですね。
更新
新たな放射性物質漏れか 米西部の核施設
2013.6.22 13:37
