Hanford Nuclear Site Analysis

The company I chose for this assignment is the Missouri Department of Conservation. It is a Missouri state agency whose mission is to protect and conserve Missouri’s natural resources.

In late 1942 and early 1943 Hanford was selected as the site of the Manhattan Engineer District (page 14-18). The Hanford Site sits on 586-square-miles of desert in southeastern Washington State.  Beginning in 1943, the site was used to produce plutonium for the bomb that brought an end to World War II.

Throughout the operation and dismantling of the refinery, various types of wastes including cloth filters, fuller 's earth, oil sludge, contaminated soil, pesticides, heavy metals, and fly ash were generated and disposed of in two on-site landfills adjacent to the Genesee River over a 30-year period. The landfill area of the site consisted of a 9-acre Central Elevated Landfill Area, a 2-acre South Landfill Area, and a 1-acre sand and gravel area between the two landfills. The landfill area was located at the very southern end of

The Institute for Energy and Environment offered and alternative in 1999 for the management of nuclear waste. For short term storage the Institute for Energy and Research (IEER) recommended nuclear waste should be stored as near and safely as possible from where it was produced. IEER suggests that the sites need to be dry and as close as possible to the place where the waste was generated to avoid a potential terrorist disaster. The funding for the extra storage on the site should come from the Federal Governments Nuclear Waste Fund. For short term storage the Institute for Energy and Environment Research (IEER) recommended nuclear waste should be stored as near and safely as possible from where it was produced. IEER suggests that the sites need to be dry and as close as possible to the place where the waste was generated to avoid a potential terrorist disaster. The funding for the extra storage on the site should come from the Federal Governments Nuclear Waste Fund. Many repositories should be looked and studied for more than a decade and none prioritized. Finding a permanent and safe solution is very difficult and would require a lot of time because of the want for good science (Ledwidge,

The energy category, which “focuses on developing clean energy alternatives to oil and coal and securing nuclear waste and nuclear stockpiles”, receives just over 1% of the federal budget (Document E). Efficient, renewable, and clean energy has recently become a major concern for people in general, especially with the spread of global warming awareness. Now, the race is on to minimize United States contribution to climate change, and in order to make a lasting impact, more money must be allocated to related projects. Also part of the Little Guys category is natural resources and environment, with 1% of the budget (Document E). Also in the vein of environmental conservation, this category deals with the essentials of life, a growing concern in the face of climate change and population growth. In order to find more efficient and ‘greener’ methods of transportation, consumption, and waste management, money taken from other categories must also be distributed here. Finally, general science and space, the national park service, and the FBI come into play, totaling $31 billion, $.1billion, and $8 billion respectively (Document E). Amongst these three categories exists great potential for shifts in budget. The FBI, for example, may be able to function with significantly less money, which, if placed in the general science and space category, may allow for technological advancements, and even answers to many of the issues faced nationally and internationally in modern

Assessments began to take place in the mid 1980’s, shortly after the site made the National Priorities list in 1983. Relevant standards and guidance levels were used to measure the effect of the Helen Kramer Landfill. The initiation of the EPA’s remedial investigation and feasibility study deemed the nature of the Helen Kramer landfill as an extreme risk to the environment, characterizing the site “by randomly placed, uncompacted, and uncovered refuse, with numerous settlement cracks which vented methane and water vapor” (2). According to the EPA, several million gallons of chemical wastes and over two million cubic yards of solid waste were estimated to have been disposed of at the landfill (2). Studies were performed by the EPA, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, federal natural resource trustees in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to evaluate the onsite and nearby environmental effects due to the landfill. During these studies, contaminants were detected in air, sediments, and aquifers, including high levels of volatile organic compounds and heavy metals in the air and sediments. VOCS and heavy metals expose humans to carcinogens, developmental toxicants, and reproductive toxicants. The assessments also detected numerous contaminants such as (but not limited to),

The national or federal environmental administration asks their states to help maintain a safe and clean environment for all of its’ people to enjoy. The National Environmental Policy Act or also known as NEPA was established in 1969 to aid federal agencies to help convey the message for the need to protect the environment. “Federal agencies are required to systematically assess the environmental impacts of their proposed actions and consider alternative ways of accomplishing their missions, which are less damaging to and protective of the environment” (U.S. General Services Administration). Even though the National Environmental Policy Act “requires” federal agencies to ensure states to follow through, Texas has not fully committed to the requirement. “Texas contains an abundance of natural resources, but efforts to impost environmental regulations have faced roadblocks for many decades” (The Texas Tribune). Texas has neglected to keep the environment’s safety in mind and thought of only the business boom. The natural resources found on the land of Texas represents a magnet that attracts people. Texas desires to continue the attraction of people into the state as it is allowing the state to flourish in economic matters. During the past few decades, “From 1970 and 1980, as oil prices spiraled upward and people flocked to Texas,” (Petersen and Assanie) there has been little attempt made in conserving

Superfund sites are districts in communities that have abandoned hazardous wastes on territories that need immediate removal.In the early 70’s the Comprehensive Environmental Response and Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 encouraged Superfund statues in Washington and these statues handle issues associated with land pollution and abandoned hazardous waste on territories .Superfund acts aid Washington and environmental agencies with removing hazardous waste and it also, allows them to pursue people and corporations that own hazardous waste territories. The principles for the Superfund acts include the quick removal of hazardous materials when environmental regulations demand it, bringing legal disputes against owners of hazardous waste territories, initiating communities and states in waste removal processes and developing extended programs that protect citizens from hazardous waste territories .In the late 70's environmental advocates discovered the contamination at the Superfund site called the Love Canal in Niagara Falls ,NY and they also discovered the surrounding territories contained pollutants and abandoned hazardous waste .The Love Canal is New York states first case of environmental neglect by a corporation and this community and facilities contained hazardous polluted water and dirt that resulted from years of accidental spills ,leaks and irresponsible business recycling

The cleanup is a three-phase plan, estimated to remove more than 99% of the PAH mass from the area, which has begun and will hopefully undo the previous generations of damage. Phase one is building a box to contain the contamination. Upon completion of the first phase, there will be a double steel-walled barricade surrounding contaminated sediment. Phase two involves of dredging the polluted deposits from the adjacent areas and placing them within the enclosure. The final phase of the project encompasses removing the water from the suppression area and placing a waterproof cap on the facility, which is anticipated to have a 200 year life span, to seal in the chemicals.

The federal government has wisely divided up their branches into individual departments. This choice has allowed for the federal government to be more organized. Every federal government department is incredibly important to the United States; there is not one greater than the other. However, the departments under the environmental category have accomplished many fantastic projects that have created a healthier living space for the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the environmental category will be dissected into two main sections: the history of the department and the major responsibilities of the department.

This site was used as a manufacturing and packaging facility. From the 1970s to the present day, the property has been used to package and make chemical products such as cosmetics. The City of Newark now owns many parts of the property. Investigations of an oily spill in the Passaic river revealed that the waste was not properly disposed and that it contained VOCs and semi-volatile organic compounds, as well as metals and polychlorinated biphenyls. They still have not determined the statistics of how many people might be affected as well as what can be done to clean up this site to prevent further discharge into the river. The last superfund site that I looked into was the Diamond Alkali CO. This superfund site is contaminated by the byproduct of DDT or “Agent Orange” which was dioxin. Dioxin is an extremely toxic chemical. This company was manufacturing agricultural chemicals. This chemical through runoff ended up in Lower Passaic River. Because of that New Jersey prohibits the consumption of any fish or other organisms from that area. Now they are all trying to clean all the superfund

Water contamination is the next major concern of environmental groups. The Environmental Protection Agency, the governmental regulatory agency created in 1970 to manage the enforcement of environmental policy, states its concerns in a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2009 (United). Specifically addressing mines in West Virginia and Kentucky, the EPA expressed serious concerns over water pollution from strip mining (“EPA”). The rupture of an ash dike at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, TN on December 22, 2008 granted credibility to the EPA’s concerns. In an article published by in Environmental Health Perspectives, Rhitu Chatterjee comments on the poisonous substances contained in ash produced from processing coal, listing

The Trinity Project was a project conducted to test the effects of a nuclear weapon. The Trinity nuclear device was detonated on a 100-foot tower on the Alamogordo Bombing Range in south-central New Mexico at 0530 hours on 16 July 1945. (Rohrer, 1995-2003). This project was organized by the Manhattan Engineer District (MED). This organization worked diligently planning and coordinating all of the logistics for the groundbreaking event. From 1945-1946 over 1000 personnel either worked or visited the test site. The United States was trying to gain nuclear proliferation throughout the world so this project was necessary for our enemies to see the devastation of a nuclear blast.

The Hanford plant was another nuclear facility just like Oak Ridge used to design and construct the nuclear parts of the bomb (¨Hanford¨). The Hanford plant played a key role in the Manhattan project by making big advances in the atomic bomb along with other cities including Los Alamos and Oak Ridge. January 16, 1943 was the day that General Leslie Groves endorsed Hanford as the proposed plutonium production site (“Hanford”). This meaning that the site was made official so the Hanford plant could produce plutonium for the project. This led to crucial success in the Manhattan project and enhanced the project further, this assisted in getting the project completed at a quicker rate which also assisted with the security of the project as a whole. More than just the sites played a part in the security of the project, the people of the Manhattan project were a key part to the project's success starting with J. Robert

Following World War 2 in 1945 the Soviet Union began commissioning a secret nuclear reactor site deep in the Ural Mountains as part of an atomic bomb project. This site was built hurriedly and in secret; five nuclear reactors were built to make, refine, and machine plutonium for weapons in just 3-5 years. http://planetliberty.wikidot.com/nuclear-power-incidents. When Mayak successfully produced a nuclear bomb, Moscow demanded more weapons giving less time. In order to deliver, Mayak disregarded basic safety and environmental standards, leading to a series of nuclear accidents.