The Department of Energy is limiting options for future use of Hanford land with the cleanup decisions it is making now, according to a new Columbia Riverkeeper report.
The Oregon-based group, which works to protect and restore the water quality of the Columbia River, released “Competing Visions for the Future of Hanford” on Tuesday.
DOE makes too many decisions that leave waste in place and rely on institutional controls – like fences, signs and land-deed restrictions – to keep people from digging up buried contamination or coming into contact with contaminated water for 100 or even 1,000 years, the report said.
“Our research revealed a failure on Energy’s part to envision a long-term future where people can use Hanford and the Columbia River without getting sick from radioactive and toxic pollution,” said Dan Serres, conservation director for Columbia Riverkeeper. “The report shows how, time and again, Energy defaults to building fences, signs and concrete caps instead of cleaning up dangerous waste.”
The latest example is DOE’s proposal to fill the Hanford C Farm tanks with concrete-like grout and leave them in the ground, Serres said. The 16 tanks have had 96 percent of their waste removed, leaving an estimated 64,000 gallons of waste clinging to their sides or on the bottoms of the tank. The proposed closure method also will not address the contamination in the soil beneath the tanks from spills and leaks of waste, Serres said.
Decisions to leave waste in place rather than remove it are particularly harmful to Northwest tribes, which retain treaty rights to use Hanford for activities such as hunting, fishing and gathering, the report said. “The Yakama Nation has a clear vision for Hanford,” said Alfrieda Peters, with the Yakama Nation, who contributed to the report. “We envision a future where our people fully enjoy our ancestral homelands to practice our traditional way of life and gather our cultural foods safe from any worries of radioactivity.”
The Hanford Comprehensive Land Use Plan, which is periodically reviewed, does not address tribal people fishing, hunting, living and using sweat lodges along the Columbia River, which is designated for recreation, conservation and preservation use by the plan, the report said. Standards set for people visiting the area for occasional recreational use may not be protective for tribal people who are eating locally caught fish and gathering roots and berries, the report said.
The report recommends that DOE re-open and amend its land use plan to fully address concerns raised by tribes and other stakeholders. It should develop cleanup plans that comply with treaties and should expand tribal access to areas of Hanford not undergoing cleanup.
It also recommended that DOE “invest in active cleanup rather than reliance on long-lived institutional controls that impinge on tribes’ and the general public’s potential future use of Hanford.” The results could be more cost-effective and realistic than relying on the federal government to restrict access and uses of large areas of Hanford for hundreds or thousands of years, the report said.
DOE released a statement Tuesday saying it recognizes the tribes’ and others’ interest in cleanup and future uses of Hanford and considers their input on cleanup decisions. “These decisions take into account future uses of the site and other legitimate factors such as cost and feasibility,” it said. “Our primary goal remains protecting the safety and health of the public and preserving the many natural and cultural resources on the Hanford Site.”
