Hanford Nuclear Reservation Emergency Update!

Hanford Nuclear Reservation Emergency Update! Hundreds of workers instructed to stay inside and not to eat or drink anything after tunnel collapse.

A nuclear cleanup facility at Hanford, one of the biggest, most complex superfund sites in the country, has been evacuated and workers in the vicinity have been instructed to "shelter in place."
At 8:26 this morning, the Hanford Emergency Operations Center jumped into action after an alert regarding subsidence of soil covering old railroad tunnels that contain contaminated materials. Susannah Frame of KING 5 reports that the "subsidence" concern translates into a collapsed tunnel, and hundreds of workers at Hanford have been instructed to stay inside and not to eat or drink anything.
There isn't much more we know at the moment-the media lines are busy.
We do know that access to the area where the alert was generated, 200 East Area, has been "restricted."
The Department of Energy says that Energy Secretary Rick Perry has been briefed on the Hanford situation, "and there is no initial indication of any worker exposure or an airborne radiological release."
Hanford officials say there is still no evidence of environmental contamination from the tunnel, and that crews have been surveying the area near the tunnels for contamination.
A remotely controlled robot, called a TALON, is also monitoring the area for contamination and taking video.
Senator Maria Cantwell says that she is closely monitoring reports of "collapsed train tunnels," which house rail cars that contain radioactive materials.
"I have been in touch with labor leaders, and in contact with the Department of Energy and contractors at the site," Cantwell said.
"Worker safety must be our number one priority, and we need to understand whether there has been any environmental contamination resulting from the subsidence at these tunnels.
My thoughts are with the first responders who are working to assess the situation on the ground, monitor any environmental impacts and design next steps for securing the area."
Washington governor Jay Inslee released a statement on the emergency, saying that the Department of Energy informed the state that "a tunnel was breached that was used to bury radioactive waste."
The White House reached out to the governor's office about the emergency, too.

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Washington state nuclear accident update; Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington is an emergency

The Oregon Department of Energy has activated its emergency operation center in response to an emergency at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington.
ODOE officials are coordinating with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, Oregon Health Authority and nuclear safety experts at Oregon State University, ODOE spokeswoman Rachel Wray said Tuesday morning.
"Hanford is 35 miles away from Oregon," Wray said.
"We are concerned about Oregonians' health and that concerns the food we eat."
The U.S. Department of Energy declared an emergency at the site at 8:26 a.m. Tuesday after a routine check found that a portion of a storage tunnel that contains radioactive waste had collapsed.
The tunnels are hundreds of feet long and are covered by about eight feet of soil.
The Hanford Fire Department is on scene and is reporting that the tunnel has caved in in an area approximately 20 feet by 20 feet over one of the tunnels next to the Plutonium Uranium Extraction Facility, or PUREX.
There is no indication of a release of contamination at this point, the U.S. Department of Energy said in a news release.
There were no workers in the tunnel when it collapsed.
Workers in that area of the site have been evacuated, and those in potentially affected areas have been told to stay indoors
Hanford is located on the Columbia River near Richland, Wash. It has more than 9,000 employees. About 29,000 Oregonians live in the nearby communities of Boardman, Irrigon, Hermiston and Umatilla.

The Big Wobble Quote: Once the radiation hits the soil it will never leave in our life time...

Thanks to: http://www.thebigwobble.org