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GAO-06-77R 1 (2005-11-04)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptaskd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Sai Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 November 4, 2005 The Honorable David L. Hobson Chairman The Honorable Peter J. Visclosky Ranking Minority Member Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development Committee on Appropriations House of Representatives Subject: Department of Energy: Preliminary Information on the Potential for Columbia River Contamination from the Hanford Site The Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford site in southeastern Washington state was established in 1943 to produce nuclear materials, especially plutonium, for the nation's defense. The site occupies 586 square miles northwest of the cities of Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick, with a combined regional population of over 200,000. The Columbia River, the nation's second largest river and a source of hydropower production and drinking water for downstream communities, as well as a major route for salmon migration, flows through the site for almost 50 miles. DOE built nine nuclear reactors to produce plutonium and other materials near the river shore to take advantage of river water for reactor cooling. Several miles away from the river, DOE built other facilities used in making nuclear materials. During operations from 1943 to 1989, activity at these reactors and other facilities generated large volumes of hazardous and radioactive waste. Some of this waste was deposited directly into the ground in trenches, injection wells, or other facilities designed to allow the waste to disperse into the soil. Some of the most hazardous and radioactive material was stored in large underground tanks. Over time, concern has developed about the impact of Hanford's waste moving through the ground and toward the Columbia River. Besides the waste discharged directly into the ground, DOE has assumed, based on tank monitoring data and other techniques to detect contamination in the soil, that 67 of the 177 underground storage tanks have also leaked contaminants into the soil. Many types of hazardous and radioactive waste produced at Hanford can be borne by water through the ground. While Hanford is a near-desert location with limited rainfall and thick layers of soil and rock beneath its surface, water from precipitation and other sources moves through these layers, and the groundwater moves in the general direction of the river. In the center of the site, the groundwater is more than 200 feet below the surface, but at the river, the groundwater is at or near river level. Over time, the movement of these contaminants through the vadose zone-the span of soil and GAO-06-77R Columbia River Contamination from the Hanford site

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