Elise Rindfleisch

March 30, 2007

The latest debacle in the cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in south-central Washington state, the nation's most polluted nuclear site, came during this past week. On March 27, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assessed stipulated penalties of $1,140,000 against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) pursuant to the Tri-Party Agreement (TPA) for several inspection lapses.

The TPA, originally signed on May 15, 1989, allocates cleanup responsibilities to the DOE, the Hanford Site manager, as agreed to by the EPA and the Washington state Department of Ecology. The TPA was agreed to by the parties pursuant to the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and the state Hazardous Waste Management Act. Cleanup at Hanford will cost at least $50 billion and continue for 30 years.

As part of the TPA, DOE manages the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF) landfill at Hanford. The ERDF is the main repository for hazardous and radioactive soils, debris, and other wastes from cleanup operations on the site. EPA cited violations at the ERDF, including failure to perform weekly inspections of liners for leakage; failure to weekly inspect the leachate collection and removal systems for proper functioning; and a failure to perform compaction tests for structural stability. Fortunately, no radioactive waste seems to have been released.

Upon discovering the violations at the ERDF, the EPA immediately shut down the cleanup operations. Now, under strict oversight, the EPA is permitting resumption of cleanup. Field tests are in progress to determine if the waste monitoring meets design criteria.

To offset a portion of their $1,140,000 fine, the EPA will allow the DOE to undertake various environmental projects. This offset does not allow the DOE to evade responsibility. The EPA is watching them closely. "Continued missteps at one of the country's most complex and difficult cleanup sites cannot - and will not - be tolerated," said Elin D. Miller, EPA Region 10 Administrator.

In the 1940s the towns of Hanford and nearby White Bluffs, small farming communities adjacent to the Columbia River, were condemned by the U.S. government for the creation of the Hanford Federal Facility. The government used this facility to produce plutonium as part of the Manhattan Project, its top-secret effort to build an atomic bomb. Until the end of the Cold War, the site continued to supply plutonium for the U.S.'s nuclear weapons arsenal.

Sources:

Department of Energy, Hanford Site, Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order: Tri-Party Agreement, available at http://www.hanford.gov/?page=91&parent=0.

Department of Energy's Hanford Operation Penalized Over $1 Million, 2007 WL 906247 (EPA).

EPA fines Energy Department $1 million over violations at Hanford nuclear site, A.P., Mar. 27, 2006, available at http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/51/03-28-2007/3df9000acf189e07.html.

EPA Region 10, Hanford Federal Facility RCRA and TSCA Cleanup Activities, http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/OWCM.NSF/webpage/Hanford+Federal+Facility+RCRA+and+TSCA+Cleanup+Activities?OpenDocument (last visited Mar. 29, 2007).