|
a• ~
<br /> la x
<br /> I c+y ~ t,.~Y^A C
<br /> ~a~' y ~ s" ° ~ spent $4.8 million pumping and treat- Su
<br /> Q", ~ r s
<br /> ,.u , , is t ~ , ing water from the spnng to remove les
<br /> tt,. strontium. Over the next few years, rh
<br /> x~€~°~, Bechtel expects to build, for $1.5 mil- ca
<br /> lion, an underground barrier of amaze- ul
<br /> rial called clinoprilolite, to absorb and pr
<br /> hold the strontium. th
<br /> The sole purpose of all this work is to in
<br /> ~ ~ block from the river an utterly minus-
<br /> ~ ~ ~ ~ - rule amount of strontium-its yearly ie
<br /> radioarnvity was last estimated to be a sc
<br /> " - , * ~ quarter of a curie. To put the radioac- si
<br /> - z- ~ ~ tiviry in perspective, the Columbia picks
<br /> • up an estimated 6,000 curies every year
<br /> ' ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ from natural sources in Canada and
<br /> (0 ~ ~ ~ northern Washington.
<br /> - ;t A Jurisdictional Jumble p
<br /> The TPA further complicates mat- v
<br /> ters by placing Hanford under the t;
<br /> jurisdiction of several environmental e
<br /> statutes, the two most important being r,
<br /> the Resource Conservation and Recov- ~
<br /> ery Att (RCRA) and the Comprehen- h
<br /> save Environmental Response, Com- t
<br /> pensation and Liability Act (CERCLA, s
<br /> also known as Superfund). Both laws t
<br /> specify how a contaminated sire must ,
<br /> be cleaned up. RCRA, however, which
<br /> is usually administered by the state,
<br /> w pettains mainly to sites where haz- ;
<br /> ardous waste was, or is being, created,
<br /> stored or deposited. Superfund, ample-
<br /> mented by the EPA, covers contaminar
<br /> R4DIATION Erom capsules of waste cesium and strontium is so intense that its inter- ed sites that are no longer active. Super-
<br /> action with water creates a glow bright enough to be seen with the naked eve. Radia- Eund, unlike RCRA, can be applied to
<br /> tion at the surface of the canisters is high enough ro deliver a fatal dose in four seconds; radioactive as well as chemical wastes.
<br /> the water in the pool shields the room above from the deadly emanations. RCRA and Superfund also require dif-
<br /> ferent procedures and documentation.
<br /> ford over the past ]U years has been: There are also simpler examples of Because of the way the TPA applies
<br /> declare an idea, get started on n. and TPA flaws. In accordance with TPA regulations ro Hanford, any site chat
<br /> then someone stops you," sacs John provisions, the DOE spends about $23 has beth active and inactive hazardous-
<br /> Fulton, director of the spent-fuel pro- million a year on experimental treat- waste-producingcomponentsistechni-
<br /> ject for Westinghouse Hanford. menu of Hanford's groundwater Yet rally covered by both RCRA and Su-
<br /> Vesriges of various aborted projects several studies have found that current perfund. Such dual coverage has seriously
<br /> are still visible at Hanford. Thee in- technologies-all variants of a method complicated hundreds of environmental
<br /> elude the foundanon of a huge faciliro called pump and treat-are inadequate. projects at Hanford alone, the GAO and
<br /> to viaih• high-level waste ($286 million At best, experts say, pump-and-neat other investigators have found. For ex-
<br /> was spent on the project before it w•as techniques could only modestly improve ample, deattivation and deconcamina-
<br /> rerminarediand aplant m mis low-ley- or contain some of Hanford's existing tion of the nuclear reactors on the site
<br /> el liquid waste with cement, as well as plumes of contamination. "VG'e could are now covered by both RCRA and
<br /> associated srorage facilities for the re- pump and treat Hanford's groundwater Superfund. >n an attempt to avoid du-
<br /> sulring blocks of grout ($19 i million for the next centun•, and it would cost placation, some reactors will be handled
<br /> was spend. Consrantk shaking priori- tens of billions of dollars, and we still primarily under RCRA and the others
<br /> ties have also thwarted technology de- would nor have clean groundwater" mainly under Superfund, SCIENTIFIC
<br /> velopment efforts. "Unfortunatelc, [he Gepharr explains. AaIExICnN has found. Thus, exactly the
<br /> rime cycles For program changes have One project seeks to curtail the seep- same task, being carried out by the
<br /> been much shorter than the nme cycles age of strontium into a narurallyoccur- same contractor, will be done and doc-
<br /> Eor technology development," says Billy ring spring near the °N" reactor and umented in two different ways, and the
<br /> D. Shipp, asscxiate laborarory director the Columbia River. In conformance tons of debris will be disposed of in dif-
<br /> in the environmental technology diva- with the TPA and the demands of the ferent waste facilities.
<br />
<br /> Sion of the Battelle laboratory. state, DOE contractor Bechtel Hanford The TPA also applies both RCRA and
<br /> 96 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN May 199(, Hanjord's Nuclear Wasteland
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