Hanford Radioactive Waste Tank Appears To Be Leaking

If you've ever been on the Reactor B tour, it's fascinating. I've been fortunate to have taken the tour so I'm always curious about happenings going on at the Hanford site.

Hanford played a huge part in developing nuclear weapons with the Manhattan Project during World War II and now remnants of that bygone area appear to be leaking.

In a report from the Associated Press, one of the underground tanks left over from World War II appears to be leaking.

The Department Of Ecology is reporting that Tank B-109 is suspected of leaking.

B-109 contains 123,000 gallons of radioactive material left over from the nuclear waste of atomic weapons of World War II and has been buried for decades.

In a statement from the DOE, this what they said about the possible leaking tank:

“There is no increased health or safety risk to the Hanford workforce or the public,” said Geoff Tyree, a spokesman for the Energy Department. “Contamination in this area is not new and mitigation actions have been in place for decades to protect workers, the public and the environment.”

According to the report, Tank B-109 had previously been emptied so there is a small amount of liquid still inside.

The Department of Ecology is estimating that roughly 3.5 gallons of radioactive waste a day is leaking from Tank B-109.

The Department of Ecology is still investigating the situation but they suspected that Tank B-109 was leaking as far back as 2019.

You can read more details on the tank leakage and more details about the clean-up effort here.

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