Heart of America Northwest, The Public's Voice for Hanford Cleanup

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Hanford Tanks and unlined radioactive waste trenches

Hanford and the Columbia River

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Tour Hanford's contaminated sites and risks:

Click and follow on Facebook for our latest news and links to what's happening, and blogspot for in-depth discussion and opinions

Watch a Video:

(click on title)

“Clean-Up” or “Cover-Up”: Enough Plutonium to Make 70 Nuclear Weapons in the soil at Hanford’s Central Plateau Liquid Waste Discharge Sites. View Heart of America NW pre-hearing workshop on whether USDOE’s plan to just cover up and leave behind Plutonium and other wastes instead of cleaning up these sites. July 2011 video courtesy of Mike McCormick.

Hanford, the Columbia River, Cancer Risk, Stopping Use of Hanford as a National Radioactive Waste Dump, and relation to commercial of reactors. 12 minutes. Interview of Gerry Pollet, JD, Executive Director outside the Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) concert, San Jose, CA Aug. 2011 courtesy of soulservicenews

Also click to watch MUSE musicians news conference with Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Jason Mraz, Stephen Stills, Jon Hall…

Photos of Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne (1) and (2), John Hall with Gerry Pollet at MUSE concert and signing Heart of America Northwest petition to require cleanup of Plutonium and opposing use of Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump.

Heart of America Northwest, The Public's Voice for Hanford Cleanup!

Your source for information on the cleanup of Hanford and nuclear waste

Your voice to stop use of Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump

Your voice for clean energy that doesn’t add more nuclear waste and risks.

We are a 16,000 member citizens' group, leading the region’s advocacy through research, grassroots organizing, legal and lobbying efforts in the Northwest and nationally for:

Clean-Up of the most contaminated area in the western hemisphere: the Hanford Nuclear Reservation;
- We believe cleanup should remove contamination and restore water, natural resources and land to meet health and environmental standards to allow safe public and Tribal future use of the Columbia River and Hanford site.
- We advocate for safety to prevent accidents and releases (e.g., explosions, fires or spills) and to protect the health of workers.
Protecting the Northwest and Columbia River from the threat of using Hanford as a national radioactive and radioactive hazardous waste dump
- our federal lawsuit to overturn USDOE's decision to dump more waste at Hanford and our lawsuit (together with the Yakama Nation) over the unlined, leaking commercial radioactive waste dump in the center of Hanford.
- We led the organizing to gather the signatures and pass I-297 in 2004, which brought an end to use of unlined ditches for dumping radioactive wastes and sought to enact as state law the principle that more waste can not be added to contaminated sites.
A safe and clean energy future to reduce global warming without creating more nuclear waste. We are working to ensure that the lessons of the Japanese reactor disaster at Fukushima are not ignored at Hanford, including for the region’s sole commercial nuclear reactor.

Our award winning "Citizens' Guides" are mailed to members with the information needed to assist the public in effectively commenting and organizing on major Hanford cleanup and waste dump issues, and related issues. Sign up to be on our email or regular mailing lists by clicking on Get Involved or by joining as a member (Donate Now to right). Our Research Center is the lead organization putting together public workshops, webinars and other educational efforts across the Northwest to enable the public to understand and effectively comment on cleanup proposals, risk assessments, impact statements… and to provide university and law students with internships and courses encouraging young people to be environmental advocates.

Hanford Public Involvement Plan Up for Review and Comment - CLICK HERE to view our fact sheet.

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State Should Require Energy Department to Change Course to Address Nuclear Safety Risks at Hanford Vitrification Plan.

Federal Court Could Order Action to Empty Leaky High-Level Nuclear Waste Tanks to Prevent Environmental Disaster

Several investigations are under way into the risks and costs of the Energy Department's continued effort to push ahead with equipment construction and installation, even while acknowledging that whistleblower critics are correct that severarl years of tests will be necessary to determine if the equipment will adequately mix wastes pumped from tanks to the plant to prevent too much Plutonium from building up in one place at one time - which would lead to an uncontrolled nuclear reaction.

USA Today came out with a detailed investigation about this very issue. To read the article CLICK HERE

Read our Press Release on these nuclear saftey risks: HERE

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Safety Violations at Hanford Commercial Nuclear Reactor: Twice, in 2011, operators let over 4,000 gallons of coolant leak; and, inserted control rods when intending to withdraw them. Heart of America Northwest petitioned the NRC to extend the public comment period on Energy Northwest’s proposal to relicense the reactor to operate until the year 2043, in order to allow the public to review and comment on this safety inspection report. NRC refused and closed the comment period on Nov. 16th. The report was only just released on December 20. Read our news release and read our Press Release, requesting an extension of the comment period. See below for info on our lawsuit over Energy Northwest's plans to use highly dangerous Plutonium fuel at the reactor.

Enough Plutonium in the Soil at Hanford’s Liquid Waste Discharge Sites to Make 70 Nuclear Weapons – Should USDOE be allowed to leave half and call it cleaned up?

We call USDOE's plan a "coverup, not a cleanup" - because USDOE would just cover radioactive and chemical waste with dirt, not remove Plutonium, Cesium and chemical wastes.

Agencies chose "Cover-Up, Not Clean-Up" in decision announced October 7, 2011. We're not willing to just accept this dangerous decision: click here for our response. Click here for our Citizens’ Guide with link to submit your comments... The comment period has been extended to Sept. 5th! View our workshop presentation slide show with photos of Plutonium trenches, info on how contamination will spread if not cleaned up by removal: Click here for Part 1, Click here for Part 2 of presentation (presentation is in 2 parts to be easier to download). Click here to View our workshop on You Tube - 20 minutes - to help you prepare and listen to discussion / Q and A to accompany Powerpoint slides. You can also click on Comment Perods and Events page for more info. Send comments to: PW136PP@rl.gov or Plutonium Liquid Waste Site Comments, USDOE, PO Box 550, A7-75, Richland, WA 99352. Urge regulators to require: a) that Plutonium, Cesium and chemical wastes be dug up and removed - not covering up waste, or just digging up 2 feet; b) adoption of the same cleanup standard for Plutonium in Hanford's soil that is being used at Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Johnson Atoll; and, c) that Plutonium which is dug up should all go to a deep underground repository, not a surface landfill at Hanford.

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Ensuring the Lessons of the Japanese Reactor Disaster are Not Ignored at Hanford and Providing the Northwest with Independent Information on Radiation Risks:

Radiation Levels in Rain in Northwest Reached Levels 130 Times Drinking Water Standard: click here for our news release July 7, 2011 with information on radiation levels in precipitation in Olympia, Portland, Seattle, Boise --- and exposing falsity of government claims that radiation levels were “well below any level of public health concern.” See coverage of our analysis on KING 5 news July 11th.
How to Prevent Fukushima from Happening in the Northwest - click here for presentation - includes what radiation levels mean to you and your family.

Should Reactor at Hanford be Relicensed to Run until 2043 –

when it will be 60 years old?

If you live in a public power community – e.g., Seattle – YOU own part of this reactor. Get your local officials to pull the plug:

Protect region from Energy NW (formerly WPPSS) repeating mistake of Fukushima by using Plutonium fuel (as in exploded Fukushima Reactor 3)

Click here for your Citizens' Guide on the risks of NRC relicensing to run the commercial reactor operated by Energy NW (formerly WPPSS) at Hanford until the year 2043 and how to submit your comments to the NRC.

We are suing Energy Northwest over its refusal to provide public records about its secretive plans to use Plutonium fuel. UPDATE 9-21: Energy NW says it won’t release key documents until after the comment period ends on the EIS!!!

If countries can phase out their reactors, the NW can phase out use of this one reactor by the end of its current license in 2023. The EIS should include a new analysis of replacing the reactor’s power with conservation, efficiency, hydro and renewable energy.

Click to submit comments by Nov. 16

Read Seattle Times front page article March 18 on risks of using Plutonium fuel, how Energy Northwest officials tried to keep this out of the news, and why Heart of America Northwest is suing Energy Northwest. We have now documented that use of Plutonium fuel not only increases the likelihood of a reactor accident, but it also can increase the offsite radiation doses by 40%! This is information which Energy NW wants to keep out of the Environmental Impact Statement on relicensing, and doesn’t want its member utilities (e.g., Seattle, Snohomish…) to know. But, you should comment and insist that this be disclosed in the EIS and urge your local utility officials or Seattle Mayor McGinn to use their votes on the ENW board to pull the plug on the Plutonium fuel scheme.

PROTECT THE NORTHWEST FROM HANFORD BEING USED (again) as a NATIONAL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DUMP:

Resources for Your Comments on USDOE's Plan to send 12,000 truckloads of EXTREMELY radioactive "GTCC" waste to Hanford for burial:

USDOE is proposing to import and bury extremely radioactive wastes with nearly as much radioactivity as in ALL of Hanford's High-Level Nuclear Waste Tanks. The wastes will leak from landfill trenches or boreholes above the groundwater and contaminate the groundwater which flows into the Columbia River.

Over 190 people came to the hearing in Portland to oppose use of Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump!! This was more than twice as many people as went to any hearing held by USDOE at any of the other proposed locations in the US! Thanks to our terrific volunteer organizers and Board members. Mayor Sam Adams, on behalf of the entire Portland City Commission, presented a terrific statement opposing use of Hanford as a national radiaoctive waste dump, calling for cleanup - not more waste, and discussing the transportation risks ignored by USDOE. Senators Wyden and Merkley also had excellent statements. (click on underlined to read).

Questions? Want help preparing comments to give at the hearing or to send in?

Click here for your 4 page Citizens' Guide to commenting on USDOE's Environmental Impact Statement on GTCC waste disposal

Click here for our comments given to USDOE and webinar presentation with suggested comments to give at hearings or send in and updated information on radiation exposure and cancer risks from trucking waste to Hanford and water contamination and cancer risks from burying these very radioactive wastes at Hanford

Click here for our Fact Sheet, including how to send in your comments by mail or email

Click here for Oregonian editorial opposing adding more waste to Hanford, and here for front page article with background

Click here for Memorial Passed by Oregon Legislature in 2011 opposing use of Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump and opposing GTCC waste. Click here for letter sent by 17 Oregon legislators with their comments opposing use of Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump

Here are some simple, sample bullets to put in your own words in your comments using link or address below:

Make a personal statement, such as "I oppose use of Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump", or "The Energy Department has no credibility with me when it says it is interested in cleaning up Hanford, but keeps proposing to use Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump."

1. Hanford can not be cleaned up if USDOE adds any more waste to be buried in landfills or boreholes - the wastes in existing soil trenches and ditches and from tank leaks need to be removed.

2. Extremely radioactive wastes belong in deep underground repositories, not in landfills, boreholes or vaults. USDOE needs to add consideration in the EIS of having one or more deep underground repositories for these GTCC wastes and High-Level Nuclear Waste fuel rods.

3. USDOE needs to consider in the EIS how to avoid making more of these highly radioactive wastes.

4. USDOE has to disclose and consider the total (cumulative) impacts of all of USDOE's separate proposals to use Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump along with proposals to leave High-Level Waste tank residues and leaks in the soil, and all the risks from trucking wastes to Hanford, in one environmental impact statement for the public to review and comment on the full picture. The GTCC EIS needs to disclose that USDOE is proposing to add 3 million cubic feet of radioactive and chemical wastes to be disposed at Hanford, in addition to of the GTCC wastes; and, the pending TCWMEIS for Hanford needs to show the total impacts from both those 3 million cubic feet of waste PLUS the impacts from the highly radioactive GTCC wastes.

Even though the official comment period ended, USDOE will still take comments - and, your Senators and Representatives need to ehar from you as well... so, please take 5 to 10 minutes and use the Citizens' Guide or other materials as a guide to commenting and send in your comments by either USPO or email with the link below, and cc your Senators and Representatives:

US Mail:

Greater-Than-Class C Low-Level Radioactive Waste EIS
Office of Technical and Regulatory Support (EM-43)
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue,SW.
Washington, DC 20585–0119

By electronic comment form:

http://www.gtcceis.anl.gov./involve/comments/index.cfm

UPDATES: Vitrification Plant, HoA's lawsuit to stop USDOE from using Hanford as a National Radioactive Waste Dump, Hanford’s Unlined Trenches:

click here for our Citizens' Guide on the 40 miles of unlined ditches into which radioactive and chemical wastes were dumped for over 30 years.

Vitrification Plant - explosion risks, higher risk of radiation releases click here for Recommendations on safety - explosion risks - and $12 billion cost of Hanford's Vitrification Plant to turn liquid High-Level Nucelar Waste into glass - on our blog with fun read Click here for Seattle Times front page story June 2011 on safety risks and retaliation against whistleblowers; and click here for the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board report Heart of America Northwest is working to ensure that the testing of safety systems will occur before USDOE continues building the plant - USDOE asked Congress to increase spending by $100 million in 2012 and an additional $100 million in 2013 (to almost $1 billion per year) for consturcting the plant without resolving the fundamental safety problems!

The New York Times quoted Heart of America Northwest in a July 11, 2010 article about Hanford, "A New Analysis Triples U.S. Plutonium Waste Figures." Our testimony to President Obama's Blue Ribbon Commission was also featured on the NY Times Green Blog!

Aug. 10: In the news and on the blog Heart of America Northwest sues to stop Hanford from being used as a national radioactive waste dump Suit sought to void USDOE's 2004 decision to bury nearly 3 million cubic feet of radioactive and radioactive hazardous waste at Hanford – latest impact statement showed groundwater and cancer risks would skyrocket! On April 25, 2011, US District Court Judge Shea decided that our challenge is not ripe because USDOE is not currently shipping waste to Hanford until the new impact statement is issued. Judge Shea's Order provides us with a significant new tool, recognizing that we have the right to enforce agreements between USDOE and Washington State, even if Washington State does not seek to enforce them.

Click here to download our complaint filed in federal cour to ov

Special Message from Board Chair Amber Waldref and Executive Director Gerry Pollet on Urgent Need to Raise $30,000 by January 1, and Challenge Grant:

Please Give a GIFT OF NUCLEAR SAFETY TO OUR NORTHWEST to help us meet our goal and earn one more matching gift by January 1st

Washington State Ecology had authorized us to spend $50,000 to provide the public with notices and workshops on USDOE's plan to abandon enough Plutonium in Hanford's soil to make 70 nuclear weapons, and for the just concluded public meetings on improving public involvement in Hanford cleanup. Then, WA Ecology reneged and said it wouldn't pay for the costs it authorized. The State's budget woes also led to 39 of our fellow environmental groups statewide being told that funds awarded would not be provided. After an outcry, Ecology says it will reimburse us for some of the costs but will not provide the previously approved funding for November's workshops on improving Hanford public involvement; or, to provide you with upcoming Citizens' Guides and notices in regards to the USDOE's plans to abandon High-Level Nuclear Waste Tank leaks, delay emptying tanks and use Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump.

Over 75% of all the people who come to meetings on Hanford Cleanup decisions or send in comments rely on notice provided by us, our award winning four page Citizens' Guides, our research, workshops and phone banks - documented in a recent survey of attendees and people on the official agency notice list. Our survey showed that hardly anyone understands and responds to, or trusts, the ineffective notices and presentations from the agencies.

To keep our work alive due to the unpaid reimbursements and to hold the meetings and pay for the Citizens' Guide mailing which we sent to the printer with Ecology's authorization, we MUST raise $30,000 by January 1st. We raised $10,000 towards this goal by Dec. 15. Please give the GIFT OF NUCLEAR SAFETY TO OUR REGION with a year end contribution!

A donor has offered us a challenge -- if we raise $15,000 more in the next two weeks, we will earn an additional $5,000!!! By the end of the year, we will need an additional $30,000 to pay for the work which WA Ecology had given us authorization for, but will no longer reimburse for. Please give generously and plan to make an end of year or new year special contribution in addition to renewing your membership.

A special Thank you to the generous donors who gave over $20,000 in the first two weeks of this crisis! If we can raise the $30,000 needed in December, we will have the ability to move forward to meet the challenges ahead in 2012 - including a round of hearings on the largest hazardous waste permit in the nation, which should be the State's vehicle to preventing use of Hanford as a national radioactive-hazardous waste dump!!!

Thank you for your caring support to protect our health and our River from Hanford's growing contamination threat, to prevent a Fukushima disaster from happening here, and to stop use of Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump.

Amber Waldref, Chair of Board (Spokane City Council Member)

Gerry Pollet, Executive Director

Heart of America Northwest

501 (C)(4)

Our main membership arm which supports our lobbying efforts as well as organizing to protect the Northwest from Hanford being used as a National Radioactive Waste Dump. Your membership and support protects the region from radiation and supports a truly clean energy future.
Donations to Heart of America Nortthwest are NOT tax deductible. To make a tax deductible contribution, clck below for HoANW Research Center.

Heart of America Northwest Research Center

University of WA School of Public Health 2010 Community Service Award winner!

501 (C)(3)

Support our extensive research for cleanup of Hanford, education, organizing and litigation; and, our educating and training college, graduate and law students to work in environmental public interest careers and learn public interest advocacy skills.
Your donation is tax deductible.