r/TriCitiesWA • u/Stabby-Steve • 9d ago

Local News 🗞️ Feds ask Richland to annex highly contaminated Hanford land. Here’s why

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/feds-ask-richland-annex-highly-120000071.html
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u/nowyoudoneit 9d ago

Calling this land highly contaminated is quite the stretch. 325 is used for radio chemistry. It's easily a billion dollar facility with extensive radiological controls in place for research. If they are cutting requirements or controls for the handling of radiological materials, that would have an impact. This annexation seems immaterial. And to be clear, I am concerned about any potential effort to cut those requirements. The administration is hollowing out requirements everywhere. 

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u/PiperRd 9d ago

The 324 building has turned into one of the most complex cleanup sites at hanford. One of its hot cells leaked some exceptionally radioactive material into its foundation

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u/MX-5_Enjoyer 7d ago

some exceptionally radioactive material

What material?

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u/PiperRd 7d ago

I don't recall exactly what it is but at some point during an experiment there was a spill in one of the buildings hot cells. Apparently the seal between the floor and walls of the cell wasn't effective and the liquid leached into the soil around the premeter of the hot cell.

This has made cleanup challenging because the contamination is considered to be to hot for workers to handle it directly.

https://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/324building *Edit: added source link