Radioactive catastrophe in US can happen in any moment, warn safety experts

Nuclear safety specialists have warned about a radioactive catastrophe that might happen at any moment, should no safeguard measures would be taken to protect against the buildup of flammable gasses inside the Hanford Nuclear Reservation underground tanks, located on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, containing 56 million gallons of toxic waste.

The experts from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DFNSB) described the risks existing due to a buildup of hydrogen gas in a letter addressed to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the Senate Energy and National Resources Committee. The letter was disclosed on Tuesday, RT reported.

“All the double-shell tanks contain waste that continuously generates some flammable gas. This gas will eventually reach flammable conditions if adequate ventilation is not provided,” the board wrote in reply to the senator’s inquiry.

This is not the first attempt taken by the board to draw the authorities’ attention to the grave problem at the waste storage site.
If the tanks were to explode, there would be flammable releases that would “have considerable radiological consequences, endanger personnel, contaminate portions of the Tank Farms, and seriously disrupt the waste cleanup mission,” the DFNSB stated in a report sent last September to the Department of Energy.

Besides, as the board stresses, there is a considerable delay in construction of a waste treatment plant that would make the toxic chemicals stored at the facility too, safe for long-term disposal and prevent the waste from going through the ground.

But the Department of Energy seems to disagree with the board's claims. In a statement issued in response to the latest warning the Department of Energy wrote: “All DSTs are actively ventilated, which means they have blowers and fans to prevent hydrogen gas build-up. These ventilation systems are monitored to ensure they are operating as intended.”

Nuclear and chemical waste stored at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation double shelled-tanks was left from World War II and Cold War-era plutonium production, a mass media report reminds. Some years ago it was discovered that about 1,000 gallons of nuclear waste are leaking from six of the tanks each year.

Senator Wyden promised to bring up the Hanford issue next week at the confirmation hearing for Dr.Moniz as the next Secretary of Energy.