A new report by the federal Government Accountability Office calls for a better plan for leaking tanks of waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state.
There are 177 underground tanks of radioactive sludge at Hanford. They’re the leftovers from plutonium production during World War II and the Cold War. Some of these tanks are leaking hundreds of gallons of the sludge each year.
The Government Accountability Office is worried that the waste has been sitting in these old battle-worn tanks too long. There’s a massive factory under construction to bind all this hazardous waste into more stable glass logs, but it’s been delayed for technical problems.
The accountability office recommends that Hanford managers come up with long-term plans for storing this waste -- like new tanks.
