Cost of Hanford Cleanup Project Rises Again
On 7 September 2006, the estimated cost for cleaning up the Hanford nuclear reservation rose to $12.2 billion.
Originally slated to cost $4.3 billion and to be completed in 1999, the clean up project's completion date has been pushed back to November 2019. The bulk of the clean up money is going towards a plant that will convert millions of gallons of waste into glasslike logs to be permanently disposed of in a waste depository. Currently, there are 43 million gallons of waste and 177 underground tanks. This clean up effort is a race against time. It needs to be cleaned up before the waste reaches and contaminates the nearby Columbia River.
Considerable technical difficulties have prevented this from being achieved. "We have had some world-class technical issues," acknowledged John Eschenberg, the federal manager for construction. "I have made mistakes. Bechtel has made mistakes. If I could relive the last three years, there are things I would do differently." Currently, not a single gallon of waste has been reprocessed.
Source: Vartabedian, Ralph, "Errors, Costs Stall Nuclear Waste Project," Los Angeles Times, 4 September 2006.
On 7 September 2006, the estimated cost for cleaning up the Hanford nuclear reservation rose to $12.2 billion.
Originally slated to cost $4.3 billion and to be completed in 1999, the clean up project's completion date has been pushed back to November 2019. The bulk of the clean up money is going towards a plant that will convert millions of gallons of waste into glasslike logs to be permanently disposed of in a waste depository. Currently, there are 43 million gallons of waste and 177 underground tanks. This clean up effort is a race against time. It needs to be cleaned up before the waste reaches and contaminates the nearby Columbia River.
Considerable technical difficulties have prevented this from being achieved. "We have had some world-class technical issues," acknowledged John Eschenberg, the federal manager for construction. "I have made mistakes. Bechtel has made mistakes. If I could relive the last three years, there are things I would do differently." Currently, not a single gallon of waste has been reprocessed.
Source: Vartabedian, Ralph, "Errors, Costs Stall Nuclear Waste Project," Los Angeles Times, 4 September 2006.
posted by:
|
