Hanford Nuclear Reservation: There May Be Another Leak

A watchdog group says that elevated radiation indicates a second double-shell tank failure at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The Department of Energy concedes while that is possible, they have not yet found any evidence of another leak.

The agency said that air monitors had found higher than normal radiation but a video inspection had not found evidence of a leak.

"The presence of these radioactive materials in the outer shell of the tank, known as the annulus, is a solid indicator that the primary shell of the tank has failed and is leaking high- level nuclear waste into the outer shell. This is the same indicator that tipped off workers that AY-102 had failed," Mike Geffre, an Instrument Technician who worked at Hanford was quoted as saying by Hanford Challenge, a watchdog group.

Senator Ron Wyden, who last week called for an independent investigation of Hanford, says this new development underscores the need for one.

"Today’s news that the Energy Department has detected highly radioactive waste in the bottom of a second double-shell waste tank underscores the urgency of the situation at Hanford," Wyden said.

"I will also be asking the U.S. Government Accountability Office to examine what and when DOE knew about the leaks in these tanks, the adequacy of the department’s tank safety efforts and responses to the deteriorating condition of all of the high-level waste tanks."