Oregon Hanford Cleanup Board to Meet April 3-4 in Hood River

CONTACT:
Jenny Kalez, 503-480-9239
Rachel Wray, 503-689-0294

SALEM — The Oregon Hanford Cleanup Board will meet April 3-4 at the Hampton Suites in Hood River, 1 Nichols Parkway. This meeting was originally scheduled for January but was cancelled due to inclement weather.

The board, which gathers three times a year, provides policy advice to Oregon’s Governor and legislature on a wide range of issues regarding cleanup of the Hanford nuclear site in southeast Washington, just north of Oregon’s border.

At the two-day public meeting, the board will:

• Receive an update from U.S. Department of Energy-Richland Manager Doug Shoop about the cleanup priorities over the next several years
• Get an update on the demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant
• Hear about the complete retrieval of waste from double shell tank AY-102, which was found to be leaking from its inner shell several years ago

The public will have an opportunity to comment to the board each day. A full meeting agenda is on the Oregon Department of Energy’s website.

ODOE's new podcast, Grounded, features the history of Hanford in this week's episode. You can download Grounded on SoundCloud, iTunes, Stitcher, or TuneIn.

To request an interpreter for the hearing impaired, or accommodations for persons with disabilities, please contact ODOE at least 72 hours before the meeting at 1-800-221-8035 or fax 503-373-7806. TTY users should call the Oregon Relay Service at 711.

For the last 25 years, Hanford has been the site of the world’s largest environmental cleanup program, the result of wastes created during the production of plutonium for America’s nuclear weapons program. Cleanup will continue for at least the next several decades.

Part of the Oregon Hanford Cleanup Board’s mission is to protect the Columbia River and Oregon from possible contamination from the Hanford site. The board is composed of citizens, a representative of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, a representative of the Governor, state agency representatives, and state legislators. ODOE serves as staff to the board.