Oregon Hanford Cleanup Board to Meet November 5-6 in Cascade Locks
CONTACT:
Cliff Voliva, 503-378-3637
Rachel Wray, 503-689-0294
SALEM — The Oregon Hanford Cleanup Board will meet November 5-6 at the Best Western Plus Columbia River Inn, 735 WaNaPa Street, in Cascade Locks. The meeting starts at 1 p.m. on Monday and reconvenes at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
The board, which gathers three times a year, provides policy advice to Oregon’s Governor, legislature, and the Department of Energy 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 hear updates from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection and Richland Field Office on the status of current cleanup projects. This will include the resumption of demolition at the Plutonium Finishing Plant; progress in moving radioactive sludge away from the Columbia River; and efforts to move forward with vitrifying, or converting into a glass-like substance, some of Hanford’s tank waste.
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: www.oregon.gov/energy/facilities-safety/safety/Pages/Oregon-Hanford-Cleanup-Board.aspx.
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.