Environmental cleanup: The challenge at the Hanford Site,Washington, USA |
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Authors: | Robert H Gray C Dale Becker |
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Institution: | (1) Office of Hanford Environment, USA;(2) Earth and Environmental Sciences Center, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, 99352 Richland, Washington, USA |
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Abstract: | Numerous challenges face those involved with developing a coordinated and consistent approach to cleaning up the US Department
of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford Site in southeastern Washington. These challenges are much greater than those encountered when the
site was selected and the world’s first nuclear complex was developed almost 50 years ago. This article reviews Hanford’s
history, operations, waste storage/disposal activities, environmental monitoring, and today’s approach to characterize and
clean up Hanford under a Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, signed by DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency,
and the Washington Sate Department of Ecology. Although cleanup of defense-related waste at Hanford holds many positive benefits,
negative features include high costs to the US taxpayer, numerous uncertainties concerning the technologies to be employed
and the risks involved, and the high probability that special interest groups and activists at large will never be completely
satisfied. Issues concerning future use of the site, whether to protect and preserve its natural features or open it to public
exploitation, remain to be resolved. |
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Keywords: | Environmental monitoring Cleanup Restoration Nuclear waste |
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