🧪🌎🍄 Da Poison One: Legacy Of Da Cold War, No Stay Easy Kai Get Solution
Da Government stay scramble fo’ figure out one $528 billion plan fo’ clean up da 54 million gallons radioactive sludge from making bombs, an’ plenty people no think da ting goin’ be pono.😕🏭💸
Small kid time from 1950 to 1990, Da U.S. Energy Department wen’ make about four nuclear bombs every day, an’ dey wen’ use factories dat neva’ had nuff safeguards fo’ protect da aina. Left one big kine problem wit’ choke toxic radioactive waste.
Da problems stay mo’ worse at da Hanford Site in Washington State, where da engineers wen’ go try clean up aftah da Cold War. Dey wen’ find 54 million gallons of super dangerous radioactive sludge from making da plutonium for America’s atomic bombs, including da one dey drop on top Nagasaki, Japan in 1945.🎯💥🇯🇵
Fo’ clean out da underground tanks dat stay leaking dis bad kine poison towards da Columbia River just six miles away, an’ some how make um stable fo’ trow away permament, stay one of da most complicated kine chemical problem evah seen. Engineers thought they wen’ solve um long time ago with one super complicated plan fo’ pump out da sludge, put um in glass, an’ bury um deep in da Nevada desert mountains. 🏜️💡
But, da construction of one five-story, 137,000 square-foot chemical treatment plant fo’ do da job wen’ stop in 2012 — aftah dey wen’ spend $4 billion — when dey found out had choke safety problems. Da bare superstructure of da plant wen’ stay not being used for 11 years, an’ stay one strong reminder of da nation’s failure, almost 80 years aftah da Second World War, fo’ deal wit’ da most deadliest kine stuff from da atomic era.🏗️🧱🚷
Da clean up at Hanford stay at one big crossroad. Da Energy Department stay talk story wit’ da state officials an’ da U.S. Environmental Protection Agency behind closed doors, trying fo’ make da plan mo’ bettah. But plenty people scared dat da most likely kine compromises, maybe going be announced in da coming months, going put da speed an’ quality of da clean up in jeopardy.⚠️⏳💔
Da government now stay looking serious at leaving thousands of gallons of da leftover waste buried forever in Hanford’s shallow underground tanks. They looking at protecting some of da waste not in da glass, but in one concrete casing dat almost for sure going decay thousands of years before da toxic materials dat it designed fo’ hold back.🔒⚗️🔬
Da Energy Department stay come to one big crossroads. Thomas Grumbly, one old assistant secretary at da department who wen’ watch ova’ da early days of da project during da Clinton administration, wen’ say.
Plenty energy secretaries over da last 30 years, he wen’ say, wen’ “bang their heads against da wall” fo’ come up with one technology an’ budget dat would make da problem go away not only at Hanford, but also at other nuclear weapons sites all ova’ da country. 🏛️🤕💣
Plants in South Carolina, Washington, Ohio an’ Idaho dat wen’ help make more than 60,000 atomic bombs get choke radioactive rubbish dat going stay radioactive for thousands of years. And no like nuclear power plants, where da waste stay dry uranium pellets locked away in metal tubes, da weapons facilities get millions of gallons of one peanut butter-like sludge stored in old underground tanks.🥜🛢️💢
Two million pounds of mercury stay in da soils an’ waters of eastern Tennessee. Radioactive plumes stay pollute da Great Miami aquifer near Cincinnati.
Every place get da same kine problem, da solution come down to one expensive, long time clean up or one faster action dat leaves choke waste still dea. Hanford, about 580 square miles of shrub-steppe desert in south-central Washington State, stay da biggest an’ most polluted of all da weapons production sites — too dirty fo’ ever give um back to da public. But da problem stay urgent, cause get chance of radionuclides polluting da Columbia River, one important water source fo’ cities, farms, tribes and wildlife in two states.🌊🏞️🏙️🌽
Da search fo’ one solution wen’ take so long dat get pressure fo’ make some kine result fo’ all da massive spending, even if no meet past expectations. Dat could mean stepping back from da promises to da local people — who wen’ experience thyroid, reproductive and nervous system tumors linked by researchers to exposure during da time of plutonium production — dat da government would stick to da highest possible clean up standards.👥🏥🤔
Da talk story between da federal an’ state officials stay about stretching out da cleanup time an’ using concrete instead of glass to stabilize about half of da low-level radioactive waste taken from da site, as well as thousands of gallons of waste stuck in da tanks when da rest of da high-level waste is removed.🕰️🚛📝
Da chance fo’ one compromise dat would let some of dat waste stay in da bottom of da tanks wen’ start plenty kine disagreement among experts: Some say using concrete to encase it would be one scientifically safe, economical solution. Critics warn dat da waste could outlive da concrete an’ leak out again in future centuries.👨🔬🔎🧱
Energy Department officials say dat any plan dey choose going be enough fo’ make da site safe fo’ future generations an’ dat any waste left behind would no be threat to human health.👶🌿🚑
Brian Vance, one old Navy submarine captain who stay da department’s site manager at Hanford, wen’ say da original expectations wen’ meet plenty scientific an’ financial roadblocks. He wen’ say engineers trying fo’ find one solution dat stay safe an’ possible.💪⚓🔍
“If you think about da decisions made in da 1990s, da project plan was quite a bit different,” he wen’ say. It required technology dat no had been proven yet dat was “easy to draw on top da drawing board, but hard to make as you move forward an’ see da real kine stuff.”📝👨💻💭
Mr. Grumbly wen’ say he wen’ show da Clinton administration long time ago budget estimates of hundreds of billions of dollars to clean up old nuclear weapons sites all ova’ da country. Officials at da Office of Management and Budget told him “no show um to da public,” he wen’ remember.🗂️💰📊
“They no put um on top da list,” he wen’ say about da federal government, noting dat even now, da Biden administration no nominate one assistant secretary fo’ oversee da cleanup.📜📈📚
As stay now, da job of treating da tank waste at Hanford alone get one official price tag of up to $528 billion; at da current rate of spending, could take hundreds of years fo’ budget and finish da project.🏷️⏳💸
Congress sent about $2.8 billion this year to da site, with about $1.7 billion allocated fo’ cleaning up da tanks. But get only little bit real progress.👨🔧👩🔧📆
Gary Brunson, da Energy Department’s former engineering director at da waste treatment plant, wen’ say da cleanup wen’ fail. He an’ two other technical managers wen’ file one whistle-blower suit in 2013 against da main cleanup contractor, Bechtel and its partner, accusing da company of doing defective work an’ then illegally lobbying fo’ budget increases. Da suit wen’ joined by da Justice Department an’ settled in 2016 for $125 million.🔧📢🏛️
Focusing on treating da less dangerous, low-level waste faster would be part of one big step back in da mission, in Mr. Brunson’s view.🔭🔬👀
“Da whole purpose of dat plant was fo’ treat da high-level waste,” he wen’ say. “They couldn’t do dat so dey are treating low-level waste. They no get one comprehensive plan, so dey making up these temporary goals.”📋🔀🔄
Da original plan fo’ taking care of da tank waste was fo’ chemically separate it, using da now mothballed treatment plant, into low an’ high radioactive streams. Then, two separate melter plants — human-made volcanoes dat work at da temperature of lava — would put both in glass.🌋🔥🧪
But exactly how fo’ do dat safely wen’ stay hard fo’ find out. “They wen’ build one of da most complex traps in da world,” Mr. Brunson wen’ say. “It no going work.”💡🕸️🤦♂️
Da real kine stuff, he wen’ say, is dat da 54 million gallons of sludge most likely no going ever be removed; he believes it going be grouted an’ left dea fo’ future generations fo’ deal with.🚮🕰️🗑️
Construction of da chemical treatment plant wen’ stopped by former President Barack Obama’s energy secretary, Steven Chu, because had rumors dat da process could lead to explosions of hydrogen gas an’ spontaneous nuclear fission.💥⛔🔬
Da U.S. Government Accountability Office has recommended stop trying fo’ fix da plant, because of da cost of ever making it work. “We could build an elevator to da moon. I would put da pre-treatment plant in da same category,” wen’ say Nathan Anderson, one director of da G.A.O.’s environmental team.🌕🚀🛠️
Then get da issue of how fo’ make da waste stable. Almost nobody disagree dat da most dangerous high-level waste gotta be put in glass an’ buried in one geologically stable place like Yucca Mountain in Nevada, one site dat fo’ decades was politically off limits.🗺️⛰️💼
But what fo’ do with da lower-level wastes stay less certain, an’ dat stay one important part of da current talk story. Da G.A.O. wen’ say dat grouting much of it an’ leaving it in da tanks would be one more cheaper way, but maybe risky. And state officials stay trying fo’ figure out how dey can compromise without losing face or safety.📈💬🗨️
Dis whole situation is da legacy of da Cold War, an’ unfortunately, no stay easy kai get solution. We gotta be smart an’ look out fo’ da future as we come to terms wit’ da past.🌐🕊️🔄
NOW IN ENGLISH
🧪🌎🍄 The Poison Legacy: Cold War Aftermath Brings No Easy Solutions
The US government is struggling to devise a $528 billion plan to cleanse 54 million gallons of radioactive sludge, a byproduct of bomb manufacturing. Many people are skeptical about the feasibility and effectiveness of this plan. 😕🏭💸
From 1950 to 1990, the US Energy Department produced approximately four nuclear bombs daily, in factories that lacked sufficient safeguards to protect the environment. This has left a monumental issue of massive toxic radioactive waste.
The situation is particularly grave at the Hanford Site in Washington State, where cleanup attempts post-Cold War have uncovered 54 million gallons of highly hazardous radioactive sludge. This sludge is a byproduct of manufacturing plutonium for America’s atomic bombs, including the one dropped on Nagasaki, Japan in 1945. 🎯💥🇯🇵
The endeavor to clear and stabilize the underground tanks leaking this harmful substance towards the Columbia River, a mere six miles away, is among the most complex chemical problems ever faced. Initial plans were to pump out the sludge, solidify it in glass, and bury it deep in the Nevada desert mountains. 🏜️💡
However, construction of the five-story, 137,000 square-foot chemical treatment plant intended to carry out the task was halted in 2012 after $4 billion had been spent and serious safety issues were discovered. The unused structure is a stark reminder of the nation’s failure, nearly 80 years post-Second World War, to manage the most lethal remnants of the atomic era. 🏗️🧱🚷
The cleanup at Hanford is at a crucial juncture. The Energy Department is in discussions with state officials and the US Environmental Protection Agency, trying to enhance the plan. Yet, many fear that the likely compromises, potentially announced in the coming months, may risk the quality and speed of the cleanup. ⚠️⏳💔
Currently, there are serious considerations of leaving thousands of gallons of the remaining waste buried indefinitely in Hanford’s shallow underground tanks. The proposal is to encase some of the waste not in glass, but in a concrete casing, which will most likely decay thousands of years before the toxic materials it is designed to contain. 🔒⚗️🔬
Nuclear weapon sites throughout the country, such as plants in South Carolina, Washington, Ohio, and Idaho, which contributed to the manufacturing of over 60,000 atomic bombs, are also dealing with substantial amounts of radioactive waste that will remain hazardous for thousands of years. Unlike nuclear power plants where the waste is dry uranium pellets securely stored in metal tubes, these weapons facilities contain millions of gallons of peanut butter-like sludge in old underground tanks. 🥜🛢️💢
Each site shares the same dilemma, where the solution is either a costly, prolonged cleanup or a quicker action that leaves significant amounts of waste behind. Hanford, spanning about 580 square miles of shrub-steppe desert in south-central Washington State, is the largest and most polluted of all the weapons production sites — too contaminated to ever return to the public. However, the problem is pressing due to the risk of radionuclides contaminating the Columbia River, a vital water source for cities, farms, tribes, and wildlife across two states. 🌊🏞️🏙️🌽
Long negotiations between federal and state officials revolve around extending the cleanup duration and using concrete instead of glass to stabilize about half of the low-level radioactive waste extracted from the site, as well as thousands of gallons of waste left in the tanks when the rest of the high-level waste is removed. 🕰️🚛📝
These possible compromises have stirred up a fair amount of controversy among experts: Some argue that using concrete to encapsulate the waste is a scientifically safe, economical solution, while critics warn that the waste could outlast the concrete and leak out again in future centuries. 👨🔬🔎🧱
The Energy Department officials maintain that any plan they choose will adequately secure the site for future generations and that any leftover waste would not pose a threat to human health. 👶🌿🚑
This entire situation is the enduring legacy of the Cold War, and sadly, no easy solutions seem to be on the horizon. As we grapple with the past, we must be forward-thinking and prioritize the future. 🌐🕊️🔄
