Six underground storage tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation along the Columbia River in the US state of Washington have been found to be leaking radioactive waste, but there is no immediate risk to human health, state and federal officials said.
“There is no immediate or near-term health risk associated with these newly discovered leaks, which are more than five miles (8km) from the Columbia River,” Governor Jay Inslee said in a statement released by his office on Saturday.
“But nonetheless this is disturbing news for all Washingtonians,” he added.
The seeping waste adds to decades of soil contamination caused by leaking storage tanks at Hanford in the past and threatens to further taint groundwater below the site but poses no near-term danger of polluting the Columbia River, officials said.
“This certainly raises serious questions about the integrity of all 149 single-shell tanks with radioactive liquid and sludge at Hanford,” Inslee said.
wirestory
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