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Introduction The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is the largest nuclear waste dump in the Western Hemisphere and a major Northwest environmental issue. It is a serious long-term threat to the Columbia River, which Oregon depends on for power generation, farm irrigation, fishing, transport and recreation. (more) Mission Our mission is to educate the public on Hanford cleanup issues, and work to increase public participation in the Hanford decision making process. Contact us Web links Alliance for Nuclear Accountability |
Hiroshima/Nagasaki event
— save the date! Please join us for a memorial for all the victims of the nuclear age — Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 6-7 p.m. on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 Hiroshima Day marks the anniversary of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 6th and 9th, 1945. Those two bombs killed over 200,000 people. Each year we remember the victims with reflections, music, and a call to action. The tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is not just Japan’s, but it is the world’s. Therefore, it is the responsibility of all nations to prevent another nuclear disaster for the safety and well-being of all our children. We urgently need to remind Oregonians and our lawmakers of the horrific consequences of nuclear weapons. We cannot let the memory of Hiroshima fade and allow our leaders to make this grave mistake again. Program Mikio Ohgushi, Dharma Rain Zen Center The event is free and open to the public. Seating is on the grass; bring a blanket or chair. Co-Sponsors: Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Japanese American Citizens League, Portland Branch of WILPF - Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, PSU Center for Japanese Studies, Peace and Justice Works, Veterans for Peace - Chapter 72, Sisters of the Road, Portland Peaceful Response Coalition, Multnomah Meeting of Friends, SGI-USA Buddhists, Metanoia Peace Community, Hanford Watch, Hanford Challenge, Portland Taiko, Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, Dharma Rain Zen Center, Richmond Japanese Immersion School, Portland Nikkei Fujinkai, Ceasefire Oregon, Buddhist Peace Fellowship
I look forward to collaborating with them on behalf of Hanford Watch in finding new ways to carry on this legacy of caring about cleanup, about sustaining the economy of our region and of mentoring a new generation of problem solvers to take over the future that many of us envision. The breath of new life will give much to all of us ready to take on the "Challenge"!
Hanford Challenge takes full advantage of the decades of experience, connections, and relationships developed by its staff and Board. Our network of insiders remains a key factor in our ability to bring authenticity and transparency to this work. Our dedicated and talented staff forms the right team to tackle the tough challenges ahead. Hanford presents many complicated and multifaceted challenges. With deep roots in the Tri-Cities, Washington State, and in the national security establishment of the federal government, Hanford represents $2 billion a year in taxpayer money for cleanup. It may take over one hundred years and many billions of dollars to achieve even a minimum level of cleanup necessary to protect current and future generations and the ecology of the region. No one individual or organization has the capacity or resources to “fix” Hanford. Hanford is not an engineering problem. Vast amounts of money will not lead to better solutions. Our proposal for transforming the cleanup is an integrated community response. The “community” in this sense must be writ large, and include the Tri-Cities constituencies (economic interests, labor unions, agricultural concerns, and more), tribes, local and state governments in Washington and Oregon, the U.S. government, environmental and citizen groups, and others. What appears to be missing is an effort to align a community approach to the issues Hanford presents. Hanford Challenge is a force to achieve this alignment. By doing such things as opening an office in the Tri- Cities, putting Tri-Cities’ residents on our Board, and developing and maintaining key relationships that can survive disputes, we are working to bring some key constituencies together. We acknowledge that we have a lot of trust building to accomplish. We believe that being transparent and authentic will help build that trust. We are taking on a tremendous challenge, one that will require community support, creativity, a spirit of inquiry, risk taking, and patience. We see no realistic alternative other than to succeed in this effort: too much is at stake. Please join us in helping to transform the cleanup at Hanford. |
Is the Hanford Vitrification
Plant an Eastern Washington boondoggle? HANFORD, WA — Imagine radioactive goo the consistency of peanut
butter. Now imagine 177 massive tanks full of that dangerous goo.
Some of it has leaked into the soil at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
in southcentral Washington State. But federal officials say they
have a final solution for this nuclear garbage. It's called the
Vitrification Plant, or the Vit Plant for short. In the second part
of our series on Hanford, KPLU's Anna King visited the Vit Plant
-- the biggest federal construction project in the nation. Audio
file
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with the Department of Energy, finding legal flaws in the Hanford waste initiative passed by voters in 2004. The initiative, intended to bar DOE from sending more waste to Hanford until waste already there is cleaned up, has never been implemented because of the legal challenges. Wednesday a panel of the circuit court upheld a ruling made by the late Judge Alan McDonald in 2006 in Eastern Washington District federal court. McDonald ruled the state initiative violated the Constitution by attempting to override federal authority to regulate radioactive waste. The state of Washington appealed. "Although the desire to take action against further environmental contamination and to protect the health and welfare of the community is understandable, we conclude that the statute enacted through the passage of Initiative 297 ... is preempted by federal law," the circuit court ruled. The state was evaluating the ruling Wednesday and considering whether to appeal, said Jay Manning, director of the Washington State Department of Ecology. Gov. Chris Gregoire issued a statement saying she was disappointed in the decision. "The initiative was supported by nearly 70 percent of the voters, and we fought hard to defend it in the face of a constitutional challenge brought by the federal government," she said. However, the decision doesn't limit the state's ability to require cleanup at Hanford under other laws and the Tri-Party Agreement, she said. "I will continue to do everything I can to make sure that Hanford is cleaned up in a manner that protects our citizens and the Columbia River," she said. If the state decides to appeal, it could ask the Circuit Court to reconsider or could request the U.S. Supreme Court rule on the case. "The community won and really Hanford won," said Carl Adrian, president of the Tri-City Development Council, which joined DOE in the lawsuit against the initiative. Benton and Franklin counties were the only counties in the state not to approve the initiative. TRIDEC has argued that the initiative could delay Hanford cleanup work by adding more restrictions and could interfere with research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and with Tri-City businesses manufacturing radiation-based medicines and nuclear power fuel. But Gerald Pollet, executive director of Heart of America Northwest and sponsor of the initiative, said the ruling puts cleanup at risk, not just at Hanford but at other DOE sites. He called the ruling a "frightening elimination of state cleanup authority" and called on all states with DOE sites to ask Congress to reassert the states' authority to regulate radioactive waste mixed with hazardous chemical waste. DOE remains committed to making steady progress toward cleaning up Hanford, said DOE spokeswoman Joann Wardrip, after the ruling. At issue in the case was whether the state initiative was attempting to regulate radioactive waste in addition to the hazardous chemical waste for which it has regulatory authority. At Hanford, where plutonium was manufactured for the nation's nuclear weapons program, waste often includes radioactive and hazardous chemicals mixed together. The Circuit Court ruled only on the initiative's validity under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, although McDonald found in 2006 that it also violated the commerce and contract clauses of the Constitution. The court did not take a stand on the validity under the other constitutional clauses because it was unnecessary to the ruling, the opinion said. The decision found that the initiative appears to be aimed at regulating the radioactive portion of the waste, including directing the state not to issue permits if there as been a release of radioactive waste, according to the Ninth Circuit opinion. Although the court might be able to strike provisions that deal solely with radioactive waste from the initiative, "we will not undertake this task of unscrambling the egg," the opinion said. The court also found the initiative would interfere with DOE's nationwide management of nuclear waste, which includes plans to send some radioactive waste to Hanford and ship some Hanford waste to other states for disposal. "The facilities at Hanford are part of the DOE's overall nuclear waste management plan," the court found. "Legislation geared to effectively close Hanford for an extended period of time directly affects the DOE's ability to make decisions regarding if and when it will ship additional waste to Hanford." The court also agreed with the 2006 federal district court ruling that TRIDEC is not entitled to collect attorney's fees in the case. |
I
would like to welcome Hanford Challenge, a newly formed organization,
into the Hanford community of people and organizations that care
about the future of our region. I am encouraged by the collaborative
and non-combative spirit of this new organization.
After
25 years as the Government Accountability Project’s Nuclear
Oversight Program Director, I am proud to announce the formation
of a new group that will focus on the cleanup of Hanford in a
different and more transformative manner.