WA: Ongoing emergency due to tunnel break at Hanford - no radiation release confirmed at this point but some workers being evacuated

[Emily]

https://twitter.com/HanfordSite

 

[Emily]

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...ecause-of-problems-with-contaminated-tunnels/

[h=1]Hanford workers take cover after cave-in of tunnel with radioactive waste[/h] Originally published May 9, 2017 at 10:17 am Updated May 9, 2017 at 1:57 pm
By David Gutman
Seattle Times staff reporter


Workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Richland have been evacuated and others have been told to take cover indoors after a tunnel containing radioactive waste caved in Tuesday morning, government officials said.
More than 3,000 workers were initially told to take cover indoors, an Energy Department spokeswoman said, but that number has since increased as a broader area of the site was included in the emergency alert. All staff had been accounted for and there were no reports of injuries, the department said.
There was no indication of a nuclear release, but crews were continuing to survey for contamination, the department said. Crews were hand surveying outer areas around the tunnels for contamination, but closer to the breach were using a remote-controlled device that can do radiological monitoring and take video...

 

[Emily]

http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/lo...cle_b7d24e86-35a5-11e7-91c8-d757f2dac9d9.html

[h=1]Roof failure was at a one-of-a-kind Hanford tunnel system[/h]

• Annette Cary
  Tri-City Herald
• May 10, 2017 Updated 3 hrs ago

...
It is 360 feet long and was built using primarily creosoted timbers arranged side by side. The Department of Energy said concrete also was used.

Then it was covered with about eight feet of soil. It?s 22 feet high and 19 feet wide, according to Heart of America Northwest, a Seattle-based Hanford watchdog group.

Between June 1960 and January 1965, eight rail cars loaded with radioactive waste were pushed into the tunnel...