THE HANFORD SITE AND OTHER OFFENSES
By Hal Fox, Editor-in-Chief, New Energy News
THE HANFORD SITE AND OTHER OFFENSES
By Hal Fox, Editor-in-Chief, New Energy News
The book by Michael D'Antonio [1] is shocking. Although copyrighted in 1993, the book only recently came to our attention. Did you know that some of the specific radioactive contaminants spewed out of the Hanford Site over a period of years (especially in the earlier years of the fifty-year operation at Hanford) is more than double the amount of radioactive contamination endured by the Children of Chernobyl? The greatest offense is that the combination of Department of Energy officials and the DOE contractors lied about the danger to those living downwind of the Hanford Site. Whether the DOE officials were properly informed or whether the blame should be placed on the contractors is a case that may be brought before the judicial system.
Several sections in D'Antonio's book are about Casey Ruud and his efforts to solve some of the safety problems at Hanford. One of the reactors (now closed down) was of the same general type as the Chernobyl reactor that produced such devastation in large portions of Belarus and the Ukraine. Casey Ruud finally testified before a Congressional committee about the safety problems. Eventually, all plutonium production at the Hanford Site was closed down and Casey Ruud was fired.
Casey Ruud is also featured in a recent article in USA Today [2] and on national television concerning the cleanup at Hanford. Casey now works for the Washington state Department of Ecology with the responsibility to ensure that the DOE-funded clean up of the Hanford Site is properly accomplished. His task covers the clean up of billions of gallons of low-level waste dumped into the Hanford soil and over 60 million gallons of high-level radioactive tank wastes in over 170 tanks (over 60 of which are leaking or have leaked).
Secretary of Energy, Fredrico Pi–a, has recently declassified several thousand pages of documents that detail some of the problems that have occurred in the emission of radioactive particulates at the Hanford Site. As the media digests these reports, you can expect to hear some stories about the previous offenses of the government against its own citizens.
Fortunately for this country, there are men of high integrity (such as Casey Ruud) who are willing to jeopardize their own economic welfare to help protect fellow citizens against the secret offenses of some government officials and some government contractors. We are pleased to report that Mr. Ruud has received documentation about some of the Low-Energy Nuclear Reaction technologies and discoveries. Casey Ruud is not a closed-minded official and suggests that these technologies should be further investigated to see if there can be better solutions for handling radioactive waste than geological storage for 10,000 years. Casey Ruud has been sent copies of this publication. He will be kept informed of the continuing progress of new-energy developments, especially as pertain to the amelioration of radioactive wastes.
REFERENCES
[1] Michael D'Antonio, Atomic Harvest, "Hanford and the Lethal Toll of America's Nuclear Arsenal," c1993, Crown Publishers, Inc. New York, 304 pg., indexed, illus.
[2] John Ritter, "Nuclear plant's neighbors lose patience with cleanup," USA Today, Thurs., Dec 18, 1997, page 4A.
[3] "Nuclear Wastes: Technologies for Separations and Transmutation," Committee on Separations Technology and Transmutation Systems, Board on Radioactive Waste Management, Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources, National Research Council, published by National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 1996 by the National Academy of Sciences.
[4] DOE/EM-0290, "Executive Summary. The 1996 Baseline Environmental Management Report," June 1996. Publication details an estimated $227 billion for environmental cleanup.
[5] DOE/EM-0255, "Radioactive Tank Waste Remediation Focus Area, Technology Summary," June 1995. Discussion of the tank waste problems, especially at Hanford Site.
[6] Vol. III. "Material and Waste Data", draft publication by The League of Women Voters Education Fund. This document provides information on radioactive wastes at several of the DOE sites. To be published in 1998.
www.padrak.com/ine/NEN_5_9_1.html
Jan. 26, 1998.