Lawmakers Ask Feds to Review Progress of Hanford Cleanup

SPOKANE  (AP) — Members of Congress are asking the federal government to review the progress of years of cleanup work at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, in light of the partial collapse of a tunnel containing radioactive wastes earlier this month.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., says lawmakers sent a letter Wednesday to the Government Accountability Office asking for the review.

Hanford for decades made plutonium for nuclear weapons, and the government has spent some $19 billion cleaning up the resulting wastes. The work is expected to last until 2060 and cost another $100 billion.

The bipartisan group of lawmakers, most from the Northwest, wrote that they were alarmed by the recent tunnel collapse and were concerned that future events could put the safety of workers, the public, and environment at risk.