SALEM, Ore. — Oregon is joining the state of Washington in a lawsuit pressing the federal government to speed cleaning up radioactive waste at the Hanford nuclear reservation.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski said in a statement Wednesday that further delay is unacceptable.
Attorney General John Kroger added that the pollution threatens the neighboring Columbia River.
Hanford, in southeast Washington, produced the plutonium used in the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, at the end of World War II.
Washington state sued in November over missed deadlines to empty underground tanks of millions of gallons of waste and to build a massive plant to treat the waste.
In a joint statement, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and state Attorney General Rob McKenna said they were pleased that Oregon had joined the lawsuit.
“Washington and Oregon depend on clean, safe water to support their economies and the health and well being of their citizens,” the pair said. “We welcome Oregon’s support in this necessary litigation.”
The waste treatment plant was supposed to be operating 10 years ago. The latest timetable calls for a deadline of 2015 to stabilize the stored waste, and 2020 to deal with groundwater and soils.
The economic stimulus package includes nearly $6 billion for cleaning up former Cold War-era weapons sites nationwide. About one-third of that is expected to be spent on Hanford, which already receives about $2 billion annually for clean up work.
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