Scientific
American: The
Hanford Site in
Washington State began storing nuclear waste created by the
Manhattan Project and continued stockpiling waste until its
last reactor shut down in 1987. Of the 177 underground tanks
holding 208 million liters of waste, 60 have leaked in the
past, though only 6 are currently leaking. The US Department of
Energy began construction of the Waste Treatment and
Immobilization Plant in 2000, with a plan to separate the
various types of waste and store them via
vitrificationâmdash;turning
each radionuclide into stable glass rods and wrapping them in
steel. However, the methodology of that process was not fully
established when construction began, and many difficulties have
arisen. Because the waste has self-separated into solids,
liquids, and gases of varying densities, each type has to be
handled differently, and some of them pose significant safety
concerns. Until the safety issues are addressed, construction
of the plant is at a standstill. It will likely not begin
operating until at least 2022.
