© 2024 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Click here for information on transmitter status in the Treasure and Magic Valleys

Possible Leak At Hanford Nuclear Reservation

RICHLAND, Wash. – A tank full of radioactive waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington may be leaking. Friday the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors say liquid levels in an underground radioactive waste tank are going down.

The single-hulled tank is called T-111. It’s located in central Hanford in a group of tanks called T-farm. The Department of Energy reports the rate of loss is about 150 to 300 gallons of liquid a year.

An Energy spokeswoman named Lori Gamache says the agency isn’t sure what’s causing the drop in levels, but a plan is being formed on what to do next.

/ Department of Energy
/
Department of Energy

“So we have equipment that’s in the tank that monitors the levels," she explains. "And this week we went in and did some visual inspections and confirmed that the equipment was working correctly. And the equipment was showing there was a level decrease in this tank.”

In a press conference this afternoon, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee called the news "very disturbing."

Tank T-111 is a 530,000-gallon capacity underground storage tank that was put into service in 1945. The tank currently contains approximately 447,000 gallons of radioactive sludge.

There are 177 aging underground tanks at Hanford. That’s the leftovers from producing plutonium during WWII and the Cold War.

Copyright 2021 Northwest News Network. To see more, visit Northwest News Network.

Anna King calls Richland, Washington home and loves unearthing great stories about people in the Northwest. She reports for the Northwest News Network from a studio at Washington State University, Triââ

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.