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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Sept. 24, 1998
98-168
Contacts: Mike Wilson, Nuclear Waste Program, 509-736-3090
Sheryl Hutchison, Communications Director, 360-407-7004
OLYMPIA - The U.S. Department of Energy must pay the full $75,600 penalty for inadequate leak monitoring at Hanford's SY tank farm, and also must improve the leak-detection system within the next 60 days.
The state Department of Ecology (Ecology) today denied the Department of Energy's (USDOE) request to reduce or withdraw the fine that was issued on July 23, 1998, following a spring-time inspection that revealed several violations pertaining to the SY area at Hanford.
Corrective actions were taken to resolve four of the violations, with no penalties being issued. The fifth violation incurred a fine for inadequate leak detection in three double-shelled tanks in the SY area.
In August, USDOE asked Ecology for relief from the fine. However, Mike Wilson of Ecology's nuclear-waste program denied the request today, writing, "Ecology's review? revealed no new or extraordinary information relevant to dismissing the penalty."
Wilson noted that the leak scenarios presented by USDOE in an effort to prove the effectiveness of its leak-detection system do not necessarily correlate to actual conditions in the SY tanks. He concluded that USDOE failed to address actual ventilation configurations, waste composition, particle-transport mechanisms and other factors in the SY tanks that are essential to detecting a leak.
Ecology's notice of denial was accompanied by an administrative order directing USDOE and two of its contractors to submit documentation of existing leak-detection equipment in all 28 of Hanford's double-shell tanks; to take steps to ensure that any leaks at the tanks could be detected within 24 hours; and to inspect leak-detection devices daily. These actions must be implemented by Nov. 30.
"The goal of public and environmental safety has to be more than a slogan, it also has to be acted on," said Wilson. "The underground tanks at Hanford contain the most dangerous chemical and radioactive mixture on Earth, and we must apply the absolutely highest standards of safety."
USDOE and its contractors have 30 days to appeal Ecology's decisions to the Pollution Control hearings Board.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
