Oregon governor, U.S. senators oppose possible transport of liquid radioactive waste through Oregon

Gov. Kotek, senators Wyden and Merkley say waste should be transformed into safer solid material before being moved from Hanford, Washington

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and the state’s U.S. senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, object to a federal proposal to potentially move by truck or train more than 30 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste from the Hanford Site near the Tri-Cities through northeastern Oregon, including Baker County.

“The very consideration of transporting 32 million gallons of Hanford tank waste by rail or truck without adequate notice, discussion, or consideration of potential and inherent risks to the citizens of the State of Oregon is unacceptable,” Kotek wrote in May to federal officials.

In a Nov. 24 letter to Timothy Walsh, assistant secretary in the Office of Environmental Management for the U.S. Department of Energy, which manages the Hanford Site, Merkley and Wyden wrote that “the risk that Hanford’s radioactive materials pose to rural and tribal communities and our State’s natural resources is too significant to ignore.”

Max Woods, assistant director for nuclear safety and energy security for the Oregon Department of Energy, said on Dec. 18, that the proposed shipments of Hanford waste, which he said could start as early as 2028 but more likely won’t begin before the early 2030s, are a top priority for Oregon officials.

The federal government produced plutonium for nuclear weapons for more than 40 years at Hanford, which is near the Columbia River northwest of the Tri-Cities. About 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste is stored in 177 underground steel tanks at the site, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

A key issue, Woods said, is the form of the waste if it is transported through Oregon.

The option that Oregon officials oppose is hauling the waste in its current liquid form, Woods said.

Although the liquid waste would be “pre-treated” to remove some of the strontium and cesium before it is moved, Woods said Kotek urges the federal government to convert the waste into a solid form before transporting it to privately owned depositories in Texas and Utah.

Woods said solid waste, in which the material is in effect encased in concrete blocks, is “inherently safer” in the case of an accident.

Liquid waste that spills during a traffic crash or train derailment could potentially contaminate water and soil, and it would pose a risk to emergency responders, he said.

Woods said the liquid waste would not be highly radioactive. The danger it poses would be “localized,” he said.

The waste would be stored in specially designed containers and hauled by trucks and trailers modified for that purpose, he said.

In a May letter to Hanford officials, a response to a draft proposal for dealing with the waste, Janine Benner, director of the Oregon Department of Energy, and Jeff Wyatt, chairman of the Oregon Hanford Cleanup Board, contend that the federal government needs to study in more detail the proposed shipments and to give the public a chance to comment.

The letter states that “transportation assessment and risk have not been adequately addressed in any previous Hanford document.”

In response to the Baker City Herald’s request for a comment, a U.S. Department of Energy spokesperson wrote that the agency “remains steadfast in its commitment to safely executing all cleanup activities. (The agency) has yet to determine where Hanford low level waste will be grouted or the routes that will be used to safely transport it out of Washington state. Any decision on solidification location and transport will prioritize safety, will be based on sound science, and will be consistent with Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal regulations.”

Grouting and solidification is the process of encasing the waste in cement that Woods mentioned.

Senators Wyden and Merkley, in their letter to the U.S. Department of Energy official, wrote that “before final disposal and transport decisions are made, we request that your agency conduct thorough emergency preparedness planning and engagement with potentially affected communities and Tribal governments along identified transportation corridors.”

Previous shipments of a different type of waste

The federal government has hauled waste from Hanford with relatively low levels of radioactivity — known as transuranic waste — in trucks on Interstate 84 in the past, Woods said.

This waste consists of such things as clothing worn by Hanford workers and equipment that was exposed to radioactivity, he said.

Those shipments, which go to New Mexico, stopped more than a decade ago but they could resume as early as 2028, Woods said.

According to a February report from the Oregon Department of Energy documenting shipments of radioactive waste through the state, from July 2000 through August 2011, a total of 572 loads of transuranic waste from Hanford were hauled by truck along Interstate 84 en route to New Mexico. Another 77 shipments of that waste were taken to the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls.

The Oregon report states that federal officials estimate as many as 6,250 loads of transuranic waste remain at Hanford.

“ODOE is confident that these shipments can and will occur safely thanks to the agency’s experience overseeing this program and its close coordination with U.S. DOE,” the February 2025 report states.