(Mikael Thalen) Federal government contractors at Washington state’s Hanford nuclear site are preparing to leave this week, following the decision to release 2,300 workers due to the government shutdown.
HanfordSuitsWorkers were informed Tuesday that they would not be furloughed or laid off, but “released from work until further notice” beginning Friday. The Department of Energy has ordered the employees to create a contingency plan that lays out how the site will operate during their absence.
The work force will be stripped down to its bare minimum, allegedly enough to keep the area safe while discarding daily maintenance and environmental employees who work to clean Hanford, the nations most contaminated nuclear site.
According to reports from King 5 News, Hanford workers were told that even if a deal is reached in D.C. before Friday, the release would still last one or two weeks, given the amount of time it would take for the federal government to deposit the contractors’ pay.
Workers not only expressed their concern over lost wages, but also noted the inherent danger in removing so many workers from a site containing over 53 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste, two-thirds of all nuclear waste in the country.
“Why isn’t there any appropriated money… because of the greedy, selfish, (politicians) in Washington DC. This isn’t good news for anyone and hopefully this exercise in greed won’t happen at all,” said a Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council representative.
An anonymous worker expressed concern over the tank farm exhausters, which release flammable chemical vapors from underground radioactive waste tanks. If the tank’s vents malfunction, a gas buildup could result in a hydrogen explosion.
“If there’s a major problem, they won’t have the right staffing to deal with it. If there’s a major equipment failure, like an exhauster going down, we won’t have the staffing to handle it,” said the worker.
Travis Couture, candidate for Washington state Senate and former Nuclear Submarine Mechanic, told Storyleak that the situation is a perfect example of the federal government’s refusal to accept responsibility for the problems it creates.
“The lack of leadership in regards to the Hanford Nuclear waste site is astounding. A leak in this site was known to be a great possibility a long time before it happened and in true government fashion nothing was done to prevent it or slow it down,” Couture said.
“Now with the Government shutdown battle ensuing, congress and the president are more worried about spending money to frivolously shut down the view to Mount Rushmore than they are with cleaning up their mess in our state. The WA St. Attorney General and the Governor need to hold their pals in DC accountable for this travesty to our land, property and environment and clean this mess up.”
Just last February, a tank exhauster at Hanford’s “C Farm” began releasing smoke, prompting an immediate evacuation. The smoke later died down and reportedly released no radiation. Only months later, Hanford gained national attention after workers detected six leaking storage tanks producing radiation readings 1,600 times higher than normal, indicative of the most powerful radioactive isotopes.
Given the government’s track record, seen in incidents such as the 1959 partial meltdown at California’s Boeing-Rocketdyne nuclear testing facility, the severity of a radioactive incident would likely be withheld from the public. Only months after the Fukushima nuclear incident unfolded, the EPA rushed to raise the “safe” radiation exposure limits, in some cases raising allowable isotope levels by 100,000 times.
The government’s decision to release workers from the ever-deteriorating Hanford nuclear site is astonishing in light of what the government has deemed “necessary” in a “shutdown” that has 85 percent of the government still operational.
Only hours before the shutdown, the State Department was rushing to finalize a $5 million order for custom crystal glasses and bar accessories, an obvious necessity for a government with “nothing left to cut” in its budget.
While Senators and Congressman were busy partying and drinking on the first days of the shutdown, Americans learned that the private Congressional gym would still be funded by their tax dollars as a “necessary” service.
In light of the recently discovered USDA memo ordering states to withhold federal food assistance “until further notice” beginning November, it is likely that the government shutdown will continue with “essential” funding to congressional gym memberships as plumes of nuclear workers continue drifting from employment.
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