Plutonium-contaminated groundwater? Don't worry about it!

Berit Anderson

Berit Anderson Jul 5, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Plutonium-contaminated groundwater? Don't worry about it!</h1>
                <h2><p>The U.S. Department of Energy is proposing that it leave groundwater contamination around one of Hanford's nine defunct plutonium-production reactors to dissipate on its own rather than cleaning it up. The DOE predicts that the radioactive and non-radioactive contaminants would dissipate or decay to benign levels in</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/berit-anderson-crosscut-com/">Berit Anderson</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>The U.S. Department of Energy is proposing that it leave groundwater contamination around one of Hanford's nine defunct plutonium-production reactors to dissipate on its own rather than cleaning it up. The DOE predicts that the radioactive and non-radioactive contaminants would dissipate or decay to benign levels in 35 to 150 years, <a href="http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2014/07/30/3085766/doe-proposes-leaving-groundwater.html?sp=%2F99%2F177%2F&ihp=1&ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">according to the Tri-City Herald.</a>The Hanford Advisory Board — which includes everyone from Westside environmentalists to Tri-Cities business interests — is leery about the concept, afraid it might set a lax precedent for tackling groundwater contamination at eight other defunct reactors along the Columbia River's shore. — J.S.</p>
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The U.S. Department of Energy is proposing that it leave groundwater contamination around one of Hanford's nine defunct plutonium-production reactors to dissipate on its own rather than cleaning it up. The DOE predicts that the radioactive and non-radioactive contaminants would dissipate or decay to benign levels in 35 to 150 years, according to the Tri-City Herald.The Hanford Advisory Board — which includes everyone from Westside environmentalists to Tri-Cities business interests — is leery about the concept, afraid it might set a lax precedent for tackling groundwater contamination at eight other defunct reactors along the Columbia River's shore. — J.S.

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By Berit Anderson

Berit Anderson was Managing Editor at Crosscut, following tech, culture, media and politics. She founded Crosscut's Community Idea Lab.   Previously community manager of the Tribune Company’