KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA | Ecology Calls DOE Proposal "Unacceptable"

Ecology Calls DOE Proposal "Unacceptable"

RICHLAND, Wash.- The Department of Ecology calls the Department of Energy's proposal to bring more "Greater than Class-C" waste to Hanford is unacceptable.

DOE has proposed Hanford as one of eleven sites around the country to store more waste.

In a letter to Department of Energy heads, Ecology leaders say it's the plan to send more waste here to Hanford is unacceptable and says DOE doesn't address current cleanup plans or the fact that cleanup is already years behind schedule.

The proposal names Hanford as a potential site for the Greater than Class-C waste.

That's the highest level of radioactivity that's still considered low-level waste.

Ecology says Hanford doesn't need that and even more, the state and DOE already agreed hanford wouldn't be the site for waste shipments from any other DOE sites.

"We already have 53-million gallons of high-level tank waste that we're still waiting to start treating and that's gonna be ten years from now, and we have over 80 square miles of groundwater that's contaminated above drinking water standards," said Ron Skinnarland with Ecology. 

Skinnarland also says the plan doesn't address how it would integrate with the planned disposal of waste already stored on site.