The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Richland Operations Office today at 8:26 am activated the Hanford Emergency Operations Center, after declaring an alert at the 200 East Area of the Hanford Nuclear Facility in Washington State over a possible tunnel collapse.
“One of two tunnels used to store highly radioactively contaminated waste at the defunct Purex processing plant may have collapsed,” the Tri-City Herald reported.
The Hanford facility is considered the country’s most toxic site. “Hanford, a 580-square-mile site in Eastern Washington, near Richland, Wash., produced plutonium from World War II through the Cold War. Parts of the site remain heavily contaminated with radioactive and hazardous chemical waste,” the Herald reported.
Read more here: www.tri-cityherald.com/...
“There are concerns about subsidence in the soil covering railroad tunnels near a former chemical processing facility. The tunnels contain contaminated materials,” according to the DOE:
“Actions taken to protect site employees include:
- Facility personnel have been evacuated
- As a precaution, workers in potentially affected areas of the Hanford Site have gone indoors
- Access to the 200 East Area of the Hanford Site, which is located in the center of the Hanford Site, has been restricted to protect employees
The public can request information regarding the event by calling (509) 376-8116. The media may call (509) 376-3322.
No action is currently required for residents of Benton and Franklin Counties.”
Below are the updates: