Regional
Hanford ordered to take more precautions
Hydrogen buildup may be dangerous
RICHLAND. W.ish (AIM
Knergv Set rotary James Wat
kins has ordered additional
safety precautions .it a llanlord
nut lear waste storage tank that
has a low possibility of explod
ing because of hydrogen
buildup.
Among the disasters Watkins
is seeking to prevent is the
t hance that workers could he
contaminated by radioactive
waste oo/ing up through pipes
at the top of the giant storage
tank, according to a iK)!•'. news
release
Watkins also ordered that
core samples be taken to leartl
the composition of the wastes
Hanford mu lear reservation of
tii ials had shut down sampling
.mil most monitoring *n tivities
insidi' tin' tiink to prrvcnt tin'
.11 i nliMil.il sparking of .in rv
plosion
The new orders were re
le.ised last Thursday after W.il
kms was briefed on the issue
last week, IK)!-', spokeswoman
( bit lien in- haliniak said
Wednesday in Washington
DC
The orders do not mean that
Watkins was dissatisfied with
previously announi ed safety
prei .ml ions, she said
"We don't know enough
about the tank and we are i on
tinning to learn, Ms kaliniak
said, adding that Watkins
wanted to liv new things "to
address what we are disi ovei
i UK
The one million-gallon don
ble w ailed storage tank, known
as tut SV. is located on the
IX )l s Hanford reservation in
southeastern Washington and
operated for the agent \ Its
U estinghouse i fanford ('o
W atkins orders were
• I hat sampling begin to tie
termme the composition of the
wastes, plus their potential
t heuucal reat turns anti options
to eliminate gas buildup
W estinghouse spokesman
\tike Herriot hoa said the sam
pling would hkeK ot cur after
the next release of g.is through
the venting system, expected
sometime in late |uh
• That .1 sale! \ nnah sis lie pel
formed lo determine if .1 sprin
kler svstem should lie inserted
into the tank, to wet the hard
surf.ii e of the i rust formed at
the top of the waste The sprin
kler svstem would reduce the
1 ham es fluif sodium and am
munium nitrates observed in
the tanks < ould ignite II the In
drogen gas ignites
Herrioi hoa said the water
would eliminate the 1 ham es of
an explosion hv the nitrates
hut i ould lead to greater prut)
loins if it causes the crust to be
come harder
• t hat .1 tei hnil al nanel of out
side experts he formed to re
view Hanford's plans to ad
dress lank safety issues
• That operational restrictions
he started to redui e the 1 ham es
that workers would he endan
gered hv radioai live waste and
toxii fumes that < mild be
pushed up through the moni
toring .ind ventilation pipes in
the event of .in explosion.
• I'h.it the DOK's offii es of \u
( I ear Safety and Knvironment.
Safe!\ and ifealth i ontinue
management review of the
problem.
Herrioi hoa said that numer
ous operational restrictions
have been in place since the
gas problem was discovered
earlier this year.
He also sail) that analysis has
determined that an explosion
inside the tank would not be
suffii lent to rupture it and hurl
radioactivity into the sky hut
could force the waste up
through the pipes and onto the
surrounding ground
Some People
Want To Change
The World.
We Just Want To
Change Your Oil.
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i,-j'jint: oil ‘'in iU.kN inllatini; mum
na^ jik! tilling u>ur i ji «ith Qiuki r
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do ll \(TV smell' milklcdh
Hi. .him to ns .in oil ch-inir is the
niti\t ini|H>nam eu»t in the work!
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Timber compromise
may be continued
MKDKOKl) (Al») Sen Mark
Hatfield savs Congress mat
have to extent! the Northwest
timber t ompromise In another
tear il the I' S fish and Wild
lilt- Service (let ides to list the
northern spotted owl .is a
threatened spet tes
I ederal agencies won't he
able to get a spotted owl recov
er\ plan ready belore the corn
promise expires at the end of
September, the Oregon Kepub
lit an saitl during a trip to
southern (Iregon
Hatfield said am recovery
plan would have to take into
account the economii and so
t ial consequent es of reducing
logging levels 111 tile Northwest
to preserve old growth forest
h.ifidat tin the owl
flic dei ision on whether to
list the ovv I as a threatened spe
t les is made on biologic al
grounds onlv
Hatfield said in Medford
Tuesdav he expects to sponsot
legislation to set the timber hat
vest on national forests in Ore
gon and Washington at d bil
lion board feet
That represents a retfut tion
ot J1 percent from tiie i H bil
lion board feet set hv Congress
last tall in the Northwest tiinbei
compromise The t ompromise
was enacted to free timber for
logging that was tied up in a
lawsuit over the spotted owl
"Some recovery plan is go
ing to drop the t ut anvwav."
Hatfield said "Any wav you
look at it with or without the
owl. you're going to see that
declining level of allowable
i ut."
Hv extending the compro
mise another year, federal
agencies would have time to
draft a recovery plan for the
spotted owl and put in place
the management plans that will
guide the national forests for
the next It) to IS years, Hatfield
said
Hatfield said he expected the
federal agem les involved to
draft a recovery plan for the
spotted owl without having to
resort to the Habinet level com
mittee that is provided for un
iler the Kndangered Spei ies
A i t
"It vou think you’re going to
get any i onsensus out of that
collection, 1 think that's just
impossible ' ’ I latlield said
In Roseburg Wednesday I lat
field said he didn’t believe the
Kndangered Spei ies Ai t ( ould
be changed or needs to be
i hanged to consider ei onomii
effects of protecting a spei ies
as has been suggested b\ Interi
or Sei retan Manuel l.ujan h
"1 think the process does
provide for that out e the owl or
any other creature is deter
mined to be endangered I fat
field said "The HIM (l S Hu
leau of hand Management) and
the f orest Serve e are now de
veloping the data base, the ei o
numb data base, that gets
cranked into this whole pro
less And the governor s office
has done this from the state's
perspective The state ol Wash
ington is doing the same tiling
''I don't think the politii s.
namely the votes to amend or
modify is feasible at this
time just from the politii s of
the (Congress
Hatfield said the recent re
port on the spotted owl pro
dtii ed bv si ientists from federal
agencies, which recommended
a drastii cut in logging levels
to prevent the extinction ol the
owl, was very credible
"But the mission ot Jack
Ward Thomas and his col
leagues was singular to es
tablish a scientific data base."
Hatfield said.
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