'zero-tolerance policy for leaks of radioactive material'
'leak poses no immediate public heath risk'

maybe the Radioactive Experts have convinced him that's the case.

He was my Congressman and I don't recall if he was pro or anti-nuclear energy, but my sense is I agreed with him (or he agreed with me ) on most issues.

Even if he's not as rabidly against nuclear as I am, I'm fairly confident he knows how serious this really is.

Hanford's been a mess for as long as I can remember.

Hanford is an atrocity and has been for decades.

This isn't even news, lol.

"This isn't eve news. lol." type of comments.

has leaked TONS of waste into the surrounding countryside and the Columbia River. It's horrifying and outrageous.

I worked with a woman who used to be employed there and she had the attitude "whenever they want more money, they find a leak". Really a cavalier attitude. I thought of her when I heard this story and wondered if her cancer had appeared yet. Seriously, I know of entire families who lived in the area who died from cancer.

I'm glad Inslee is all over this -- I'm so grateful he's our new Governor.

That's why it isn't news. It's bad news as all news out of Hanford is.

We're bitching about this site continuing to exist in any way, shape or murdering form. Perhaps it felt like killing the messenger. Sorry.

known problem for decades. When it gets reported as some breathtaking new development I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Hanford, if it isn't a superfund site, it should be. Egads.

Gas stations have to use double-shell tanks, and we see them being replaced quite often, but for NUCLEAR WASTE they're using single-shell tanks built in the 1940s?!?

Actually, it's worse. Hanford, Idaho NL, Savannah River.. all facing the same situation. In Idaho, they used to bury 55 gallon drums of the stuff, in shallow pits out in the desert. They didn't have that luxury at Hanford, so they just built big tanks.

All of these sites have tons of waste that still need to be transferred to better containers for permanent storage. When they do get it transferred, it's then loaded onto unmarked trains and trucks to a final depository. There is no public notice and there is no escort. This has been happening for almost a decade. Where it goes depends on how hot the waste is.

In the 90's they started using a process called glassification, where they entomb the waste in glass. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for really hot waste. But it does work for the low-level stuff.

And all of these projects would take a hit if the sequester happens. They're already planning layoffs at INL.

I can imagine what's laying around in the soil there.