Cantwell Questions Energy Secretary on Under-Funding of Hanford Tank Waste Cleanup
67 single shell tanks at Hanford Site have leaked one million gallons of hazardous waste
WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a Senate Energy Committee hearing Thursday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) pressed Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman for answers on a budget proposal that cuts Hanford tank waste cleanup funding by $52 million. While the president’s Fiscal Year 2007 budget request provides additional funding for the vitrification plant, it cuts other aspects of Hanford cleanup efforts significantly—particularly tank waste cleanup. Overall, the president’s budget proposal reduces Hanford funding by more than 10 percent compared to the 2005 funding level.
At the hearing, Bodman promised to provide Cantwell with an analysis of moving hazardous waste from single to double shell tanks. Sixty-seven tanks at the Hanford site have leaked an estimated one million gallons of hazardous materials into the ground.
A partial transcript of Cantwell’s questioning of Secretary Bodman follows:
CANTWELL: “Secretary Bodman, you and I have discussed the situation about tank waste at Hanford… We obviously have aging single shell tanks, and they are seven to 10 miles from the Columbia River. Now, we know that from various reports that [many] of those have leaked, you know, an estimated million gallons of contaminants into the soil of the Pacific Northwest.
“And we know that the Army Corps of Engineers has been critical of DOE for the slow process, calling it imperative because of seismic issues…
“…We're getting a very clear picture about the growing threat, and yet we see an administrative budget that cuts $52 million from the tank waste cleanup program at a time when we're heading toward this September…milestone, which an inspector general has already said because of—what did they call it?—unrealistic cost, schedules, and assumption by DOE we're going to miss.
“So why would we cut—given all that scenario—why would the department propose further cuts to the single tank cleanup that we ought to be accelerating, given what the Army Corps of Engineers has said?”
BODMAN: “All of the water, the fluid, that is in the single hull tanks has been removed. What remains in the single hull tanks is a sludge, are solid materials with a modest amount of liquid with it.
“The reason that we have reduced the budget and the rate at which we will deal with the removal of that material is that I need to have the Vit plant operating as a place to put and process the material when it comes out of there.
“We monitor those tanks for any additional leakage, anything that would indicate any instability, and we find none. So there is a monitoring process that is ongoing.
“And in terms of the management of the single hull tanks, I believe that they are stable and that the delay which is reflected in the budget -- that is caused by the fact that I have brought the construction activity at the Vit plant to a halt until we get a much better fix on costs and schedule and what needs to be done than we currently have. “And that's what is now ongoing.”
CANTWELL: “So when the Army Corps of Engineers says that it is imperative the project be accelerated and empty tanks as soon as possible, tanks and their contents represent immediate risk in a seismic event, you disagree with that?
BODMAN: “Yes.”
CANTWELL: “And so you disagree with the ability to remove the remaining material from the C tank farms into, say, a double shell tank?”
BODMAN: “I don't have a double hull tank that's available.”
CANTWELL: “Is there not an analysis that's about to be completed by the department that shows that these newer tanks could withstand and do have capacity?”
BODMAN: “Say that again, Senator. I didn't understand.”
CANTWELL: “Does the department have an analysis that's about to be published...”
BODMAN: “If we do, I don't know about it.”
CANTWELL: “OK. Well, I would like to follow up with both that analysis of moving material—an answer in writing of analysis of moving that material from the single shelled tanks to double shelled tanks and an answer...”
BODMAN: “I'd be happy to do that.”
CANTWELL: “Thank you.”
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