Portland Lawmakers Try to Block Nuclear Waste

By NIGEL JAQUISS

A team of 17 Portland lawmakers wrote (PDF) on Monday to federal Energy Secretary Stephen Chu in an effort to stop the feds from selecting Hanford, Wash. as a dumping ground for nuclear waste. The letter comes on the heels of  a public hearing held on May 19 in Portland to discuss that possibility.

"As state legislators representing Portland, Oregon, we urgently and respectfully as that the Hanford Nuclear Reservation be removed from the U.S. Department of Energy's list of candidates for national permanent storage of waste," the lawmakers wrote on May 23.
"While we recognize the need for energy resources and the proper storage of waste, Hanford Nuclear Reservation is note a viable option. We believe that there are important unresolved matters that demand further scrutiny before the site is committed to further storage of nuclear waste."

At issue is a Department of Energy process to select a permanent location to store nuclear waste generated by power plants, medical uses, research and other sources. Hanford, already the home of the greatest concentration of nuclear waste in the country from its decades as a key link in the production of nuclear weapons, is one of the six sites being considered. The lawmakers and other critics are concerned that the selection of Hanford would mean that thousands of trucks or rail cars full of nuclear waste would pass through the Metro area in coming decades.

"Hanford is just across the Columbia River from Oregon and is the most contaminated site in the Western Hemisphere," the lawmakers added. "With over one million people living downriver in Portland, Hood River, The Dalles and other Oregon cities and towns, the contamination also exists within our communities. The existing situation is perilous enough without adding further waste. Besides the river contamination, those living along the interstate system will be affected much more directly. If Hanford is selected, we will begin to see truckloads of radioactive waste traveling along interstate routes, passing through our cities."

WWeek 2015

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