Editing Hanford Site (section)

===Organization===
[[File:Spent nuclear fuel hanford.jpg|thumb|right|[[Spent nuclear fuel]] stored underwater and uncapped in Hanford's K{{nbh}}East Basin]]
Decades of manufacturing left behind {{convert|53|e6USgal|ML}} of [[high level waste|high-level radioactive waste]]<ref name="Ecology">{{cite web |publisher=[[Washington Department of Ecology]] |title=Hanford Quick Facts |url=http://www.ecy.wa.gov/features/hanford/hanfordfacts.html |access-date=January 19, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624232748/http://www.ecy.wa.gov/features/hanford/hanfordfacts.html |archive-date=June 24, 2008}}</ref> stored within 177 storage tanks, an additional {{convert|25|e6cuft|m3}} of solid radioactive waste, and areas of heavy [[technetium-99]] and uranium-contaminated groundwater beneath three tank farms on the site as well as the potential for future groundwater contamination beneath currently contaminated soils.<ref name="Ecology"/> On June 25, 1988, the Hanford Site was divided into four areas and proposed for inclusion on the [[National Priorities List]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/CLEANUP.NSF/7d19cd587dff1eee8825685f007d56b7/2f133ac95a7d2684882564ff0078b367!OpenDocument |title=Hanford – Washington Superfund site |publisher=U.S. EPA |access-date=February 3, 2010}}</ref>

On May 15, 1989, the [[Washington Department of Ecology]] (WSDE), the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA), and the DOE entered into the Tri-Party Agreement, which provides a legal framework for environmental remediation at Hanford.<ref name="Schneider">{{cite news |last=Schneider |first=Keith |title=Agreement for a Cleanup at Nuclear Site |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 28, 1989 |access-date=January 30, 2008 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE2DF1230F93BA15751C0A96F948260}}</ref> By 2014, the agencies were engaged in the world's largest environmental cleanup, with many challenges to be resolved in the face of overlapping technical, political, regulatory, and cultural interests. The cleanup effort was focused on three outcomes: restoring the Columbia River corridor for other uses, converting the central plateau to long-term waste treatment and storage, and preparing for the future.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Department of Energy |title=Hanford Site Tour Script |date=October 2007 |url=http://www.hanford.gov/hanford/files/PublicTourScript.pdf |access-date=January 29, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227230946/http://www.hanford.gov/hanford/files/PublicTourScript.pdf |archive-date=February 27, 2008}}</ref> In 2020, WSDE issued the DOE with a $1.065 million penalty for restricting WSDE from direct access to facility data required for regulatory oversight in accord with the Tri-Party Agreement; a settlement agreement being finalized in 2023.<ref name=nei-20230920>{{cite news |url=https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsdoe-settles-dispute-over-hanford-site-with-washington-ecology-department-11160812 |title=DOE settles dispute over Hanford site with Washington Ecology Department |publisher=Nuclear Engineering International |date=September 20, 2023 |access-date=September 21, 2023}}</ref>

In 2011, DOE, the federal agency charged with overseeing the site, "interim stabilized" 149 single-shell tanks by pumping nearly all the liquid waste out into 28 newer double-shell tanks. Solids, known as salt cake and sludge, remained. The DOE later found water intruding into at least 14 single-shell tanks and that one of them had been leaking about {{convert|640|USgal|L}} per year into the ground since about 2010. In 2012, the DOE also discovered a leak from a double-shell tank caused by construction flaws and corrosion in the tank's bottom, and that twelve other double-shell tanks had similar construction flaws. Since then, the DOE began monitoring single-shell tanks monthly and double-shell tanks every three years. The DOE also changed the methods by which they monitored the tanks. In March 2014, the DOE announced further delays in the construction of the Waste Treatment Plant, which affected the schedule for removing waste from the tanks.<ref name="GAO1114">{{cite journal |author1=GAO |title=Condition of Tanks May Further Limit DOE's Ability to Respond to Leaks and Intrusions – Highlights |url=http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-40 |journal=GAO Highlights |publisher=U.S. GAO |access-date=December 22, 2014 |date=November 25, 2014|issue=GAO-15-40 }}</ref>

The cleanup effort was managed by the DOE under the oversight of the two regulatory agencies. A citizen-led Hanford Advisory Board provides recommendations from community stakeholders, including local and state governments, regional environmental organizations, business interests, and Native American tribes.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[United States Department of Energy]] |title=Hanford Site: Hanford Advisory Board |url=http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/hab |access-date=February 14, 2012}}</ref> For the Native Americans, the cleanup took on a moral and religious aspect. A particular focus was the conservation of indigenous fauna and flora, such as the [[Eriogonum codium|Umtanum desert buckwheat]], which only grows in the area and was prized by Native Americans for its medicinal properties.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nuclear waste ravaged their land. The Yakama Nation is on a quest to rescue it |newspaper=The Guardian |date=August 20, 2022 |first=Hallie |last=Golden |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/20/yakama-nation-nuclear-waste-cleanup |access-date=March 4, 2023}}</ref>