After the collapse of a section of a tunnel on May 9 at the Hanford nuclear waste site.
Now officials are investigating a leak at the ‘extremely safe’ Hanford site.
Fake News many said when I published a video last week about a possible radiations and leak at Washington state’s Hanford nuclear waste site. But now that CNN reports a ‘Possible leak found at Washington nuclear site‘ you are probably going to listen to me.
We’re calling for an immediate investigation by US Dept of Energy into contamination & potential leak in a #Hanford nuclear waste tank.
— Director Maia Bellon (@maiabellon) May 19, 2017
Authorities at Washington state’s Hanford nuclear waste site are investigating a possible leak after discovering radioactive material on a worker’s clothing. The discovery follows an incident early last week in which a site tunnel collapsed, sparking fears of radiation exposure. Washington River Protection Solutions, a contractor working at the site, on Thursday detected high readings of radiation on a robotic device known as a crawler that workers were pulling out of a nuclear waste tank. Contamination was also discovered on the clothing of one of the workers. “Established decontamination procedures were followed, which involves removing the contaminated clothing. Further surveying the worker showed no contamination remained. No other workers were affected, and all members of the crew were cleared for normal duty,” said WRPS spokesman Peter Bengtson. The Double-Shell Tank AZ-101 contains 800,000 gallons of nuclear waste, according to the Washington Department of Ecology, which oversees the Hanford site. The nuclear plant is located in the south-central part of Washington state, about 45 miles from Yakima. Using leak-detection instruments, WRPS said it did not find liquid escaping the tank. However, workers are preparing a plan to conduct a visual inspection by video. State officials are also urging the US Department of Energy to investigate the incident and determine the safety of the site. “We are not aware of any nuclear waste leaking outside the AZ-101 double-shelled tank, but we expect the US Department of Energy to immediately investigate and report on the source of contamination,” Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement. Maia Bellon, director of the Washington Department of Ecology, echoed the governor’s call. The Department of Energy released a statement confirming the incident had occurred and that the workers had returned to “normal duty,” but it stopped short of saying whether federal officials would investigate. CNN
