Hanford nuclear reservation takes next step on waste cleanup

By Scott Learn, The Oregonian
September 28, 2009, 12:58PM

RICHLAND, Wash. - Workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation have removed a 1.2 million gallon basin that once held 1,100 tons of spent uranium fuel roads, the U.S. Department of Energy says, and are beginning to clean up contaminated soil underneath the basin.

Contractor CH2M Hill's Plateau Remediation Company started excavating the contaminated soil on Sunday, meeting a deadline under DOE's agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Washington.

Earlier this month, workers finished years of work removing the K East Basin that once stored highly radioactive materials underwater, one of the greatest hazards at the former plutonium production site.

The basin held spent nuclear fuel from Hanford's nine reactors beneath 20 feet of water for shielding. Soil underneath the concrete basin was contaminated by leaks in the 1970s and 1990s, DOE says.

From October 2008 to early September, workers filled more than 2,000 large containers with low-level radioactive waste from inside the basin. It was disposed of in a lined landfill on site.

Cleanup of contaminated soil under the basin could be completed as early as next spring, DOE officials said, depending on the type of contamination found and the extent of its spread.

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/09/hanford_nuclear_reservation_ta.html