On May 9 of this year, an extremely radioactive tunnel at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state partially collapsed. The tunnel is part of the PUREX facility (Plutonium Uranium Extraction Plant), which was used to manufacture plutonium for nuclear weapons. The building has been vacant for nearly twenty years, but during the course of its operation (from 1956 to 1972, and again from 1983 until 1988), PUREX processed more plutonium than any other facility on the planet. The tunnel that collapsed holds rail cars loaded with contaminated discarded equipment and there are fears that the opening created by the tunnel collapse could leak radiation into the environment.
On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with Dan Serres, Columbia Riverkeeper Conservation Director, and Tom Carpenter, Executive Director of Hanford Challenge, about this tunnel collapse in the context of Hanford's long and troubled history of failed cleanup efforts, after decades of creating and disposing of high level nuclear waste across a landscape half the size of Rhode Island.
Tom Carpenter is the Executive Director of the Hanford Challenge. He brings decades of experience in organizing, litigating, and policy oversight in the nuclear field, much of it devoted to Hanford. Through his work at Hanford Challenge, Tom has visited dozens of nuclear sites in the U.S. and Russia, hosted international conferences on protecting nuclear whistleblowers and examining the legacy of highly-contaminated nuclear facilities, and focusing on the Hanford Nuclear Site in southeastern Washington State.
Dan Serres is the Conservation Director for Columbia Riverkeeper, where he keeps an eye on oil trains through the Gorge and the simmering toxic threat of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, sprawling along the Columbia River, 220 miles upstream from Portland.
- KBOO