Sludge removal begins at Hanford

YAKIMA – Workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation have begun removing radioactive sludge from pools of spent nuclear fuel, a move widely considered a significant step forward in cleanup efforts at the contaminated site.

The indoor pools of water, known as the K East and K West basins, once held 2,300 tons of spent nuclear fuel about 400 yards from the Columbia River. More than 90 percent of the fuel has been removed.

Work on removing sludge began late Thursday, the Energy Department announced Friday.

The Energy Department missed a legal deadline established under the 1989 Tri-Party Agreement — the legal pact governing cleanup at Hanford — to begin removing the sludge by Dec. 31, 2002. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined the agency $76,000 last year, but the Energy Department and regulators reached a new agreement last month.

Under the new agreement, K East basin sludge must be removed by Jan. 31, 2006, and K West basin sludge must be removed by June 30, 2006.