For most time of the 20th century, a huge campus in the desert of the south -east Washington state replaced most of the plutonium used in the nuclear arsenal of the country, from the first atomic bombs to the arms race, which gave air to the Cold War.
Now, after decades of plan and billions of dollars investment, the site is turning liquid atomic and chemical waste into a very safe substance in the site Hanford nuclear reservation: Glass.
State regulators on Wednesday released the final permit required for workers to Hanford to often remove more waste from underground tanks, mix it in crucible with additives, and heat it above 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 Celsius). The mixture then cools into the stainless steel vats and accumulates in the glass – still more stable to keep in radioactive, but storage, and is less likely to leak into the soil or near the nearby Columbia River.
The long -awaited development is an important step in cleaning the country’s most polluted nuclear waste site. Construction Hanford waste treatment and stabilization plant began in 2002.
“We are due to a really important moment in the history of Hanford,” said KC Sixkiller, director of the Washington State Department of Ecology, said in a video interview.
Hanford’s mystery was an important part of the Manhattan project
The reservation of about 600-class-meal (1500-class-kimi) is two of the most important rivers of Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of snakes and two in Columbia, which is in an important area for the original American tribes for Millenia.
War -term planners selected the region as it was isolated and had access to cold water and hydroelectric power. In early 1943, the US government seized the land for a secret project, displacing about 2,000 residents, including farmers.
Thousands of workers then responded to the advertisements of newspapers across the country, who promise good jobs to support the affiliated efforts to lose. Nazi Germany And Japan in World War II, and a new company was born in the city desert.
Most workers were not aware that they were involved in the construction of the world’s first full scale plutonium production reactor, until the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki In August 1945, and President Harry S. Truman announced the existence of the Manhattan project for the world.
Hanford will increase to include nine atomic reactors by churning the plutonium to the nuclear arsenal of the nation. The final of these was closed in 1987. Two years later, the Washington State, the US Department of Energy and the US Environment Protection Agency arrived on an agreement to clean up the site.
Today, Hanford focuses on clean-up
Seven of the nine reactors have been “cocoons” to prevent avoiding contamination, until the radiation level does not fall enough to allow disintegration near the end of the century.
There are also 177 giant underground tanks that keep some 56 million gallons (212 million liters) of highly radioactive and chemically dangerous waste. Those tanks are before their estimated lifetime of 25 years. More than one third of the past has been leaked, and three are currently leaking.
During its years producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, Hanford dumped directly into the Columbia River and in ineffective control ponds, polluted the surrounding groundwater and according to the 2013 official evaluation, contaminated the food chain of wildlife dependent on it.
Now Hanford focuses on cleaning, with an annual budget of about $ 3 billion.
It is effective to convert nuclear waste into glass – but expensive
Encourage radioactive waste in glass – called “vitrification” – has been recognized as an effective method to neutralize it since the 1980s. Hanford has plans for two features: Now approved to process low-level nuclear waste after repeated delays, and there is a adjacent feature for high-level high-level waste.
So far, more than 30 billion dollars have been spent on plants. The US Energy Department, which oversees Hanford, has faced the October 15 deadline, incorporating the EPA and the state of Washington, according to the cleanup schedule and consent decree, some of their stored waste has been converted into glass.
According to a statement by the Department of Energy, the first waste to be mixed with glass will include the pre -pretty radioactive cesium and strontium.
Washington State Democrat Question Tusrap Commitment of administration
Earlier this month, the Energy Department fired his main overseer Roger Jerlel of Hanford Cleanup, inspiring concerns about the commitment of the Trump administration. Democratic Sen. Patty dead Energy Secretary Chris Wright told him by phone that he wanted to stop the vitrification operation.
This expressed displeasure with the officials of Washington State. The village. Bob Ferguson, tribal leaders and labor representatives attended a news conference, threatened legal action.
But Wright insisted that the department has not changed anything, and on 17 September, a prescribed paperwork made paperwork, allowing the state to proceed after approval by the regulators of the state.
“Although there are challenges, we are committed to start operations by 15 October 2025,” Wright said last month. “As usual, we are giving priority to the health and safety of both the workforce and the community as we work to meet our country’s needs to deal with the safe and skill of nuclear waste to our country.”
On Wednesday, with the issuance of state approval, Ferguson urged the Department of Energy to follow.
“Our state has parted us to start waste treatment plant,” Ferguson said in a statement. “Now the federal government needs to live up to its responsibilities and clean what they left behind.”
In a statement before the government’s shutdown, the Energy Department said it would be able to continue all its operations for one to five days. After that, the department’s work will stop until the operation is “related to the safety of human life and security of property.”