SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Officials say an underground nuclear waste storage tank from World War II armaments production appears to be leaking contaminated liquid into the ground.
The U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday the tank holds 123,000 gallons of radioactive waste left from the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
The giant tank was constructed during the Manhattan Project and received waste from Hanford operations from 1946 to 1976.
The Energy Department says the small leak produces no increased health or safety risk to the Hanford workforce or the public.