DOE Settles Hanford Suit

The Department of Energy and the State of Washington agreed on Jan. 9 to settle a major lawsuit brought by the state in 2003, which sought to prevent the department from shipping radioactive and hazardous waste to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation for storage, treatment, and disposal.

Under the proposed settlement, which must be approved by the U.S. District Court in Yakima, Wash., DOE agreed to prepare a new environmental impact statement (EIS) that will include an updated, site-wide groundwater analysis before proceeding with the shipment of low-level, mixed-low-level, and transuranic waste to Hanford. In exchange, the state agreed to drop its lawsuit challenging the current EIS and will play a greater role in developing the new assessment. The revised impact statement is to be completed by 2008.

"With this agreement, both parties will be able to shift their focus and resources away from litigation and toward partnership and our shared cleanup goals," says DOE Secretary Samuel W. Bodman. "The settlement of this lawsuit signals a new day in our cleanup efforts, where both the federal government and the state jointly address Hanford's cleanup challenges."

Jay Manning, director of the Washington Department of Ecology, says the proposed settlement "ensures that the state will have meaningful input into developing the EIS, which will enhance our ability to protect Hanford groundwater and make better waste-management decisions."

In its lawsuit, Washington argued that DOE lacked an adequate plan to bring radioactive and hazardous waste to Hanford from other defunct weapons sites across the U.S. The Hanford site already contains millions of gallons of radioactive waste following 40 years of plutonium production for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal. Cleanup costs are expected to total $50 billion to $60 billion.