Third Tank At Hanford Believed To Be Leaking Radioactive Waste

The Washington State Department of Ecology revealed they were notified yesterday by the Department of Energy that a third tank at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is now suspected of leaking radioactive waste.  This third tank is the second from the "T-Farm" to either be suspected of, or known to be, leaking waste.  There are 16 tanks buried in the T-Farm.

Tank T-111, suspected of leaking roughly 300 gallons per year, was first discovered to be leaking back in 2013.  Then in 2021, DOE discovered that Tank B-109 in the B-Farm was also leaking.  That tank is believed to be leaking between 1,200 and 1,500 gallons per year.

In a statement to Newsradio 610 KONA, Department of Energy Management and Program Analyst and Spokesperson, Ed Dawson said:

... it has been determined that T-101 is more likely than not leaking a small amount of contamination to the soil beneath the tank.

Get our free mobile app

Dawson went on to say:

The decrease in liquid level in Tank T-101, which could be attributable to a number of factors, is relatively small and is the equivalent of as much as 200 gallons per year.

According to Dawson, there is an assumption that over 60 tanks have leaked more than 1 million gallons of waste at the site.  Other situations like tank overfills and releases that were intentional as well as unplanned account for over 10 million gallons of contamination in and around the T-Farm.

What Does This Mean?

According to Dawson, mitigation efforts regarding leaking waste have been in place for decades and new actions are continuously being implemented.

Active groundwater pump and treat systems operating near T-101 capture and remove contaminants that may reach the groundwater and ensure the protection of the Columbia River. DOE is also designing and will be building a surface barrier over T Farm to prevent rain or snowmelt from seeping into the ground.

In a message sent to employees, DOE acknowledged that the discovery came after a leak assessment by Washington River Protection Solutions after a smaller pool size was noticed combined with a slowly reducing liquid level in the tank.

T-101 is a 530,000-gallon capacity single shell tank built between 1943 and 1944 and filled between 1945 and 1979. DOE pumped as much liquid as possible out of Tank T-101 in 1993 during a successful site-wide campaign to remove liquids from the single shell tanks called interim stabilization. Roughly 93,000 gallons was left in T-101, with a large majority of that being solid waste.  Residual liquid that is also in the T-101 is believed to be what is leaking.

DOE and the WA Department of Ecology are working on a response to address the probable leak from Tank T-101.  Hanford's 149 single-shell and 28 double-shell tanks store the site's most dangerous waste and are well past their shelf life of 25 years.  it is believed over 55 million gallons of waste remain to be treated.