What is the most critical problem we are facing right now?
Well, I think there are two different areas of critical problems. One is the problem of military high level waste stored mainly in tanks in Hanford, Washington, Idaho National Laboratory, and Savannah River. There is some risk that waste contained in several dozen tanks could catch fire or explode so there is a real environmental health danger. Already some are leaking at Hanford. True, there are over 60 tanks leaking, 66 and more tanks are identified as potential leakers. Of these tanks, many have actually leaked more than three quarters of a million gallons of radioactive waste into the soil. Has this endangered the water table? Yes, there are radioactive materials in the water. However, part of the characteristics of these cracks in the tanks is that salts tend to get deposited around them so the leaks tend to be self-sealing. By the same token, if you try to empty the tanks by washing them out you’re going to risk washing out the seals. — This is a major challenge at Hanford: how
