Photo by Jeffrey St. Clair
On May 9, the roof of a tunnel that’s used to store highly contaminated radioactive waste collapsed at the Hanford nuclear facility in eastern Washington state. Thousands of workers took shelter. Nobody was directly injured by the event, but the 20 by 20 foot hole in the underground tunnel will likely expose the surrounding soil and atmosphere to radioactive contamination.
The safety culture at Hanford has long been under scrutiny for not protecting workers from events like these. The name of the game at Hanford is how to expedite the multi-billion dollar cleanup process at all costs – a colossal tab, picked up by taxpayers that is lining the pockets of the usual suspects without producing many results. Below is a cover piece I wrote on this very issue for Seattle Weekly back in October, 2011. Sadly, not much has changed in the last 5 1/2 years since this investigation was first published. By every fair assessment, the Hanford nuclear cleanup is the largest environmental boondoggle the world has ever seen and that’s not going to change anytime soon. In other words, expect more accidents like this in the future. – JF
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Razor wire surrounds Hanford‘s makeshift borders while tattered signs warn of potential contamination and fines for those daring enough to trespass. This vast stretch of eastern Washington, covering more than 580 square miles of high desert plains, is rural Washington at its most serene. But it’s…