KGMI News
HANFORD, WASH. (AP) – U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry says his agency will conduct a study to determine what led to the collapse of a tunnel at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
Perry says the federal government has failed over the years to remove the waste in a timely manner, but they can no longer kick the can down the road.
Meanwhile, a Department of Energy spokesman says low levels of radiation are coming from the collapsed section.
Mark Heeter says they still don’t know what caused the cave in.
He speculates that it could have been caused by radiation, moisture, the year’s heavy snowfalls, or some combination of them all.
Clifford Hampton is a maintenance manager and says it could have been worse.
“They had a problem; nobody got hurt. They found the situation out [and] got it under control,” Hampton says.
Cleanup crews have now filled in the hole.
Governor Jay Inslee says the state plans to issue an order requiring the federal government to figure out what happened.
It also requires the Energy Department to assess if there’s an immediate risk of failures in any other tunnels.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.