Editorial
Cleaning up Hanford

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As federal officials craft a final plan governing waste disposal at the Hanford nuclear reservation, they should heed the state's reasonable request to reconsider some fine but important points.

Chief among the state's concerns is that Department of Energy officials seem willing to add more waste when major Hanford areas still don't comply with state and federal hazardous-waste requirements. Energy's final solid-waste environmental-impact statement also signals federal officials might be angling to consider less-strenuous cleanup of contaminated groundwater.

Monday, federal officials signaled they were considering these and other concerns expressed in a March 9 letter from Ecology Director Linda Hoffman before issuing their specific plan.

The state's position is reasonable. Ecology consistently has acknowledged that Hanford, with its unique capabilities, might have an important role in the nation's cleanup of Cold War-era defense wastes from other states. However, the state is not willing to take any post-1992-generated waste from ongoing nuclear defense or research.

Years in the making, Energy's environmental-impact statement has incorporated several state requests but the final plan should incorporate more. For instance, the statement includes a commitment to bury waste only in lined trenches starting in 2006. Hoffman argues persuasively Energy shouldn't wait but rather stop the practice right away and improve other waste-management practices.

The Energy Department should embrace the state's sensible and responsible requests.

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