The articles that I read discussed the major problems of the cleanup of
former nuclear weapon sites that are causing enormous budget increases and
delaying deadlines. State officials where these sites are located are
frustrated and want more action to be taken by the Department of Energy, who is
responsible for overseeing the clean-ups. Since the radioactive waste projects
started there have been many issues that have come up but the first and
foremost is funding. The shortage of funding for each of the several nuclear
weapon sites has led to delays, which has caused budget increases by the
billions. The cleanup sites have been faltering and need further investment to
ensure safety. One article compared it to replacing the roof on a house that is
going to be torn down, but the waste needs to be cleaned up before it leaks
into the nearby water tables. Employees are saying that the DOE and its
contractors are punishing them for “raising technical and safety concerns”. In
addition, the contractor from the Hanford site in Oregon has been cited for
making 34 technical decisions that were unverified by the DOE. The Savannah
River Site in South Carolina has been successful in creating the world’s
largest liquid bomb stabilizing plant, which mixes the waste with molten glass
in stainless steel canisters where it will last for millenniums. Despite this
success, there is now a need for a place to store the waste canisters
especially since the Yucca Mountain proposal was cancelled.
This is a very serious
matter, as seen in the Fukushima disaster, where they are still trying to
recover. It will be complicated process finding enough funding for each site,
but keeping strict regulation on the DOE-chosen contractors could prevent
future budget increases and deadline extensions. How to distribute funding is
always tricky but slowing funding to sites where contractors have caused
problems would cease current accusations that the contractors are just being
“rewarded for bad behavior”. Next to the urgency to complete these projects,
the problem of where to store the stabilized waste has yet to be determined.
Perhaps following in the steps of other countries like France, where they have
found methods to recycle radioactive waste would reduce the amount that needs
to be stored while also finding a beneficial use. As the completion dates get
pushed decades away and budgets continue to climb it is clear why frustrated
state officials want the DOE funding to go their state’s cleanup site. It is
also clear that because of budget cuts by Congress contractors and the DOE have
discredited workers who bring up safety issues in order to prevent additional
costs. Although there are inevitable complications due to the magnitude of
these projects, concern for radioactive waste contaminating the country’s water
should be a top priority. Experts are in agreement that these sites completion
dates cannot continue being push farther away. The leakages will happen sooner
or later, it is just the matter of how soon. --Gianna Rosati
