Hanford Nuclear Reservation: The Energy Department (USDOE) and EPA chose "Cover-Up, Not Clean-Up" in decision announced October 7, 2011.

The agencies chose 'cover-up' instead of 'clean-up.'

The Energy Department (USDOE) and EPA ignored a massive outpouring of public comment in their decision to leave enough Plutonium in soil to make dozens of nuclear weapons. Instead they chose to just cover highly radioactive Cesium, plutonium and chemical sites with 15 feet of dirt. 

Heart of America Northwest turned out 200 people to meetings and hundreds of additional commenters urged that USDOE be required to dig up Plutonium with chemical wastes. Many of you joined us in urging EPA to adopt the same standard for the maximum amount of Plutonium allowed to be left in soil as USDOE is being required to cleanup to at Lawrence Livermore National Lab or Johnson Atoll in the Pacific. 

In response to our comments, the agencies reduced the allowable level for leaving Plutonium in soil to one third of the incredibly high level proposed by USDOE. However, the allowed level will still be 78 times higher than USDOE is being required to cleanup at other sites!! 

Heart of America Northwest provided the agencies with a notice of intent to sue if they chose to leave the Plutonium and chemicals in some of these sites to which federal and state hazardous waste law applies. (To support our lawsuit donate now at the left sidebar) 

The decision adopted the heavily criticized plan to only dig up 2 feet of soil in the most dangerous Plutonium liquid waste trenches. Massive amounts of Plutonium were discharged with acids and chemical wastes - which move the Plutonium through soil. Decades ago, some Plutonium had already moved far below the surface towards groundwater, but USDOE refused to do testing (characterization) of how far it has moved in recent decades.

Claims that the USDOE had characterized many of the waste sites were exposed as false after Heart of America Northwest was able to obtain the underlying investigation documents - which USDOE and the TPA agencies only made available AFTER the initial public meetings had occurred. The cleanup decision for two miles of ditches, for example, are being based on sampling done in the 1950s and 1970s - before USDOE even acknowledged that it had to sample for toxic chemical wastes under hazardous waste laws. That sampling had found Plutonium had moved forty feet below the trenches in just a couple of decades, yet, the cleanup plan announced assumes that the Plutonium has moved no more than two feet more in the last forty years - without any sampling to confirm this highly challenged assumption.

Even with the incredibly poor characterization and use of unsupported optimistic future exposure assumptions, cancer risks projected for people exposed to these sites range as high as nearly ninety percent in 150 years, and only reducing to 46 % in one thousand years. (Z Ditches Table 19.200 page 58 of Record of Decision). If the agencies are wrong in claiming that they can prevent any exposure to soil from excavations (e.g., utility lines) for 24,000 years the cancer risk to may be as high as one in ten!(P. 57)

The final decision responds to Heart of America Northwest's notice of violation of hazardous waste laws by acknowledging that these laws may apply, and states that the agencies will apply their standards as cleanup proceeds. This does not meet the fundamental requirements of the laws to allow the public to see, and comment on and appeal actual permit conditions for cleanup. If they don't follow the law, we will take legal actions as necessary. 

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Outraged--Plutonium-Liquid-Waste-Decision-Announced---Our-Response.html?soid=1102643130307&aid=pjIR7tvQn_4

http://www.hoanw.org/