Lethal And Leaking

By: Daniel Schorn

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60 Minutes asked Charles Anderson of the Department of Energy about this.

"When you hear they gave the wrong design specifications — you almost can't believe it – on one piece of equipment, and then when you hear it's been repeated over and over, I mean, that doesn't sound like the Department of Energy is managing the situation very well," Stahl said.

"There's a number of those issues that have occurred. Those issues have been identified and corrected but there's also a large, large percentage of equipment where the specs have been correctly given, the equipment's been purchased correctly," Anderson replied.

"But there shouldn't be mistakes like that in a plant like this, should there?" Stahl asked.

"Well, Lesley, in a large complex facility, a project like this, you do have mistakes," he replied.

Anderson acknowledged they are big mistakes. "I would agree that there are big mistakes here that we are taking control of and we're correcting," he says.

"You know, I'm getting a little deja vu here because when we were here in 2001 it was the same thing. 'We figured it out. It's better now. No problem any more.' Do you think, being candid with us, that the department's up to this?" Stahl asked.

"Well here's what's different now. We've taken steps to provide increased oversight, to reach out for increased external reviews," Anderson replied. "To complete this important work of disposing of, stabilizing and then disposing of this waste."

Anderson says that the leaking tanks have been stabilized and that there's virtually no chance of further seepage. But Christine Gregoire, the governor of Washington State, who has worked on this issue from the beginning, doesn't believe that for one minute.

"Let me tell you the story. 1989: They told me there was zero chance that there would be any leakage and ground water contamination. Sixteen years later, we have confirmed 67 leakers, groundwater contamination. I told them then, 'Gravity works like this.' And I'll tell them again today: gravity means we are very vulnerable to the groundwater contamination and a plume that we now have moving towards the Columbia River, which is the lifeline of our Pacific Northwest," Gov. Gregoire says.

Asked what she meant by a "plume," the governor said, "We've got an area that is contaminated in the groundwater and is migrating towards the Columbia River. And if it gets there, Lesley, we have an absolute disaster on our hands."

She's worried about a move in Congress to cut the budget for the Hanford clean-up.

"I can understand the frustration in Congress," the governor says. "Frankly, they are no more frustrated than me. But the last thing we need is to send a message to this country that it's OK to walk away. It is not. The chances of a catastrophic event over there are real. Time is not on our side. We need to get going."

Produced By Rich Bonin