Volume 141, No. 126 covering the 1st Session of the 104th Congress (1995 - 1996) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“DON'T ABANDON HANFORD” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Senate section on pages S11048-S11049 on Aug. 1, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
DON'T ABANDON HANFORD
Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, the Nation's nuclear facilities are being singled out for strident criticism these days. The Hanford site in Washington State is one of those pointed to for its alleged waste and inefficiency. In fact, some of my distinguished colleagues have proposed legislation that would dramatically, fundamentally, and perhaps dangerously affect the principles which govern cleanup at Hanford.
I am troubled by these criticisms, Mr. President, not because they do not make some good points--for certainly, Hanford's cleanup operation is not perfect--but because they ignore two important factors: first, that cleanup operations at Hanford are actually progressing; and second, that this Government has an obligation to help communities which contributed in no small part to our victories in World War Two and the cold war.
The massive undertaking to clean up nuclear waste at Hanford is overseen by what is known as the Tri-Party Agreement. This agreement, forged in 1989, includes the Department of Energy, the Washington State Department of Ecology, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and is showing itself to be an effective means for guiding cleanup. As a recent article in the Tri-Cities Herald noted:
Many in the Northwest, including former adversaries, say the pact is the engine driving cleanup and, while slow in the beginning, it now is speeding the work along.
From safety to new technology to administrative savings, Hanford has made great strides. I submit for the Record a list of Hanford's recent accomplishments from the Tri-Cities Herald. It shows how far Hanford has come, and how the Tri-Party Agreement has influenced and moved cleanup efforts.
The Blush Report, a review of Hanford commissioned by my distinguished colleague Senator Johnston, cited the Tri-Party Agreement as the primary obstacle to efficient cleanup. But that report was wrong. Just ask the people who signed the Tri-Party Agreement, the contractors who follow its guidelines, and the people of Washington State who benefit from its success. For all its faults, the Tri-Party Agreement serves as a constant reminder to the Federal Government that cleanup at Hanford is a top priority.
And officials at Hanford are now looking to move 2,300 tons of spent nuclear fuel away from the Columbia River three years earlier than originally planned. This is not only good for the environment, but for the taxpayer as well--it may save as much as $120 million. Would the Federal Government, on its own, take the initiative like this and actually try to finish a project ahead of schedule? I have my doubts.
A unique example of innovation at Hanford is the use of microorganisms to get rid of pollution. These microscopic creatures are, according to DOE News, ``stimulated with a vinegar-like solution to 'eat' chemical pollutants such as carbon tetrachloride and nitrates.'' Mr. President, surely no one can say that Hanford is in the grips of bureaucratic sclerosis when it enlists what one local paper calls ``vinegar-swigging microbes" in the fight against pollution.
I recently received a letter from Mr. Kenneth Kensington of Viatech, Inc., in Hastings, MI. Viatech is cooperating with the Department of Energy on certain aspects of the cleanup, and Mr. Kensington writes that such cooperation is valuable not just to Hanford, but to the private sector and the advancement of research and development as well.
Administratively, Hanford is also making great strides. Last April members of the Tri-Party Agreement met in St. Louis to create a
``Blueprint for Action and Cost Control.'' As the Tri-City Herald reports, ``[t]he officials at the St. Louis meeting examined how to better manage projects, reduce costs and increase competition, track savings and streamline the regulatory process.''
Mr. President, this strategy goes hand-in-hand with the legislation my fellow members of the Washington State delegation and I have introduced to reform cleanup at Hanford.
There is, Mr. President, another aspect to this issue, and that is the responsibility the United States of America has for supporting facilities like Hanford which provided the manpower and the materials that helped fight and win both World War Two and the Cold War.
Beginning in the 1940's, the Federal Government asked the Hanford community to join in the effort to combat Japanese, then Soviet, aggression. Hanford responded to the country's call, and performed its task magnificently, producing the materials to build up our Nation's defenses and face up to first the fascist and then the Communist threat. Tens of thousands of men and women worked on this mission, each contributing in their own way to American strength and security.
Now, Mr. President, as we all know, the cold war is won, communism is vanquished, and we should all be thankful for the hard work and dedication of people in communities like Hanford. After all, these communities sacrificed a great deal. At Hanford, thousands of tons of nuclear waste lie underground, the result of a decades-long nuclear effort. I understand, Mr. President, that some of my distinguished colleagues may be concerned by the cost of cleanup at Hanford, but I cannot believe they would suggest that we simply turn our backs on the people who never faltered in their duty to their country.
On Tuesday, the Senate Energy and Water Subcommittee approved funding for Hanford for 1996. I was very pleased by this, Mr. President. But I am still concerned about Hanford's long-term situation. I am very concerned that we stand by our commitments.
Mr. President, I hope my colleagues will consider this issue carefully. I hope they will do what is right by the people of Hanford, and not, in their rush to save dollars, forget Hanford's invaluable service to America.
Mr. President, I ask that this article from the Tri-City Herald be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Significant Accomplishments Have Been Made, Milestones Reached Since
Signing of Tri-Party Agreement
Here's a rundown of major accomplishments at Hanford since the Tri-Party Agreement was signed in 1989:
Hanford's highest risk--the ``burping'' tank 101-SY--was resolved by installing a giant mixer pump that controls releases of hydrogen gases from the tank.
Fabrication was completed on a spar pump, the second of its kind for waste tank use.
Contaminated liquid discharges to the soil were eliminated.
K Basins, which hold highly radioactive used nuclear fuel, were made earthquake-proof.
Forty million dollars was saved by selling nitric acid stored in the Plutonium Uranium Extraction Finishing Plant to British Nuclear Fuels in England.
Getting that nitric acid out of PUREX will cut 10 months off the former chemical processing plant's deactivation schedule. The first shipment of nitric acid arrived in Great Britain this month. Two shipments will leave Hanford each week until December, when all 190,000 gallons will have been removed.
The Uranium Oxide Plant deactivation is done, which mean the former processing plant is ready for final cleanup and disposition. This project was done four months early and
$800,000 under budget. Deactivation reduced the annual cost of maintenance from $4 million to $40,000.
This so-called interim sludge stabilization program was completed at the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) 85 days early. That was the first major step in the eventual cleanup of the plant.
The work was done inside two small furnaces in a PFP glovebox. Moist, chemically reactive plutonium scraped from 236 containers was heated to 1,000 degrees Celsius, converting it into about 30 kilograms of impure plutonium oxide that was sealed in containers and placed in PFP's shielded vaults. Stabilizing this material reduced total worker radiation exposures by 25 percent.
Fuel was removed from the Fast Flux Test Facility four months ahead of schedule and $475,000 under budget.
An evaporator was constructed and has reduced the amount of radioactive liquids in underground tanks from 61 million gallons to 55
million gallons. By evaporating a portion of the water and thus concentrating the remaining liquid waste in double-shell tanks, there will be more available storage space for wastes to be transferred out of other troublesome tanks.
The extra tank space provided by the evaporation means six new tanks, at an estimated cost of $378 million, won't be needed.
With evaporation, only water is removed. The condensate water is being piped to nearby basins to await final processing.
In the N Reactor complex, 13 of 32 buildings have been deactivated and are ready for final disposal. Cleanup of the N Reactor's fuel basin is to be done in 1997.
Two effluent disposal facilities have been built in central and southern Hanford to treat contaminated liquids. The liquids will no longer be dumped into the soil; a practice that began in 1943.
The 200 Area Treated Effluent Disposal Facility was $25 million under budget and fulfilled 12 TPA milestones.
Reduced annual overhead costs by $200 million and infrastructure costs by $22 million.
The $31 million Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility was built, a laboratory to provide analysis of Hanford's wastes. The complex includes an analytical laboratory, nuclear spectroscopy laboratory and solid-waste storage facility. Nonradioactive and low-level radioactive samples can be analyzed, as can samples that cannot be sent to commercial laboratories.
250,00 pounds of carbon tetrachloride will soon have been removed from the soil in the 200 Areas, nearly 34 million gallons of contaminated ground water will have been treated, 56,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil excavated and 52 buildings decontaminated and decommissioned.
A new drilling technology now in use at Hanford is safer, three times faster and minimizes wastes better than conventional drilling methods while producing higher-quality samples.
K Reactor water basins have been converted into fish-rearing ponds to revive Columbia River
salmon runs. The project is in cooperation with the Yakama Indian Nation.
The Hanford Advisory Board was created to provide public direction on cleanup from stake-holders throughout the Northwest.
A super landfill was created in central Hanford to receive debris and soil from the planned riverside cleanup.
Numerous buildings, including the B Reactor water treatment plant, have been demolished.
Construction is under way on the $230 million Environmental and Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a 200,000-square-foot building that will house equipment and programs to study molecular interactions and likely will lead to improved cleanup technology.
The Fitzner-Eberhardt Arid Lands Ecology reserve and the North Slope have been cleaned. Combined, they make up 45 percent of the 560-square-mile site. The lands, which had contained no radiological contamination, are to be turned back to the public, but a debate continues on who will get the land. By 1997, another 65 square miles along the Columbia River will be available for other uses.
Additionally, several new technologies are in use. They include:
Virtual reality, a simplified version of a special stereoscopic viewing system to inspect Hanford tanks. The system gives operators the feeling they're actually in the tank looking for structural flaws.
A high-temperature melter system to allow for more ``waste loading'' during eventual vitrification of tank waste. Increased operating temperatures allow greater flexibility to incorporate more volume of waste into the glass, thus reducing the number of radioactive glass logs to be sent to a permanent repository.
A device that for the first time measured the amount of gas in tank 101-SY.
a tungsten ball, about the size of a softball, that has been suspended into that tank on a wire cable to provide information on the thickness of waste inside.
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