HANFORD,
Wash. --Workers started repairing a collapsed tunnel at the Hanford
Nuclear Reservation in Washington state on Wednesday. The tunnel
contains …
HANFORD, Wash. -- Workers started repairing a collapsed tunnel at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state on Wednesday.
The
tunnel contains railcars filled with radioactive waste. The ground
above them caved-in Tuesday. So far, there's no sign that radiation has
leaked.
With
a machine blowing mist to keep down dust, workers began filling the
gaping 400-square-foot hole in the tunnel holding contaminated nuclear
waste.
Mark Heeter
CBS News
Mark
Heeter is a spokesman for the Department of Energy at Hanford. We asked
him if the plan was for crews to pour dirt back into the hole.
"They're refilling the hole that's exactly right," he said. "It's gotta be done carefully … that's part of the sophistication."
When the hole was discovered Tuesday, much of the vast Hanford site was put on lockdown.
Aerial
picture shows the hole where a tunnel collapsed at the Hanford Nuclear
Reservation in Washington state on Tue., May 9, 2017.
CBS News
Broadcastify
provided the following audio from an emergency dispatch shortly after
the incident: "Dirt collapsed into the tunnel. Nobody is involved, no
people involved."
Welder Dennis Riste was working about a quarter mile away.
Dennis Riste
CBS News
He said it was "very" unusual for the sirens go off and being told to take cover.
"I've
never experienced it," Riste said, "and then when I see all the
firetrucks and ambulances and everything over by PUREX (Plutonium
Uranium Extraction Facility) ... that, that kinda sunk home like
'geez.'"
While the Department of Energy says no radiation has escaped from the damaged tunnel, Hanford has a long history of problems.
Plutonium
used to make nuclear weapons for 40 years left a contaminated mess of
buildings and equipment. This includes 56 million gallons of radioactive
waste stored in 177 underground tanks, some of which have leaked.
Hanford is often described as the most polluted site in the country.
CBS News science contributor Michio Kaku weighed in on the incident.
"A
major earthquake, a major fire at the site … with all these toxic --
much of them flammable liquids -- could cause a disaster beyond our
imagination," he said.
The cleanup at Hanford started more than
25 years ago, but it's far from finished. The latest estimates show it's
likely to take another 30 years before the work here is complete.
Crews working at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation following a tunnel collapse on Tue., May 9, 2017.
From
his base in San Francisco, CBS News correspondent John Blackstone covers
breaking stories throughout the West. That often means he is on the
scene of wildfires, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and rumbling
volcanoes. He also reports on the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley
and on social and economic trends that frequently begin in the West.
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