Hanford has to be high on the list of our biggest problems. I know an anti-nuclear activist named Dave Hill - he's a musician I played music with a couple of years back - and he's trying to do a more populist approach on Hanford.
I'll include his link here precisely because he didn't ask me to.
http://www.gofundme.com/1qr2tk

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said the leaking material poses no immediate risk to public safety or the environment because it would take a while — perhaps years — to reach groundwater....Department of Energy spokeswoman Lindsey Geisler said there was no immediate health risk and said federal officials would work with Washington state to address the matter.

Lies & deception. It's already long been an immediate health risk. By the time they let it "reach groundwater," it will be waaaay too late.

This is another glowing example of their pernicious neglect and immoral money diversions. And their PR baloney is just a crock of downblend. They're turning the mid-Columbia River valley into an extensive sacrifice zone, one isotope and square meter of land after another, every day all day. Look out below!

P.S. -- Ponder this, from Gov. Inslee's statement reported above: ...it would take a while — perhaps years — to reach groundwater.

Huh? "Perhaps years" ??? So, then, to be more precise: in the coming months the escaping nuclear waste will reach groundwater.

Meanwhile, "federal officials" will "work with Washington state to address the matter." Address the matter? F' that. Quit mailing it in, and FIX IT NOW!

Does anyone else think about our food source, etc. from the Columbia Gorge?
I do. I wonder where their water comes from that is used to grow that food, etc.
The watermelons from Hermiston, the many orchards of apples and pears, the microbrews and vineyards. Maybe all is fine there, but if this radioactive material is in our river or is in danger of approaching, it would seem to me that the food industry would lobby for immediate attention and enormous funds to do whatever it takes to safeguard our food and for those who live in their community.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said the leaking material poses no immediate risk to public safety or the environment because it would take a while.... True!
In the same way that a bullet fired from a gun pointed directly at you is not an "immediate" threat.
It is an "imminent" threat.
Criminal and stupid are not mutually exclusive.

Unfortunately we don't seem to be able to fix stupid!

Some day one of the cub reporters around here is going to let it slip about how much money has already been spent to clean up Hanford.

Clinamen

Unless water can go uphill, no crops or people in the Gorge will be threatened by radioactivity in the Columbia. They all get their water from the adjacent water sheds.

Gravity isn't that complicated

Plus, the flow of the Columbia is so massive that any material that reaches the river is incredibly diluted

Fantastically funny post on a deadly serious topic.

Food source? I grew up in Hood River. Swam in the river, many times and watched my father die from T-cell lymphatic leukemia at age 49. He grew up there. Too many things happening that are crossing out coincedence.

We have known the dangers for years! It's not exactly groundbreaking. My father and his brother went to school with Walden growing up. I have written that bastard so many letters and have never received one response, not one! All over Hanford's record. The status quo has existed for decades even to this child of the 80's.

We don't care about dilution because there is no safe level of radioactive material. As one can see in the first link here, water is lifted 85 ft. and the second link tells of water pumped from the Columbia River near Hermiston and shows the picture. The third link also shows a picture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Basin_Project

Irrigation of the Columbia Basin
When it was built, Grand Coulee Dam was the largest dam in the world, but it was only part of the irrigation project. Additional dams were built at the north and south ends of Grand Coulee, the dry canyon south of Grand Coulee Dam, allowing the coulee to be filled with water pumped up from the Columbia River. The resulting reservoir, called Banks Lake, is about 30 miles (48 km) long. Banks Lake serves as the CBP's initial storage reservoir. Additional canals, siphons, and reservoirs were built south of Bank Lake, reaching over 100 miles (160 km). Water is lifted 280 feet (85 m) from Lake Roosevelt to feed the massive network.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/oregons_water_issues_run_deep.html

Pivot irrigation near Hermiston transforms desert into prime farmland. This water is pumped from the Columbia River (background). Extra water has been harder to get since hydrologists concluded farmers were pumping too much out of the ground.

http://kids.britannica.com/elementary/art-69400/Sprinklers-are-used-to-irrigate-plots-of-wheat-alfalfa-potatoes

Sprinklers are used to irrigate plots of wheat, alfalfa, potatoes, and melons near the Columbia River in Oregon. The sprinklers are controlled by a central computer system.

I am sure there is a lot more that those with scientific expertise could add to this.
I began with a question and concern as there is discussion about doing more irrigation in Oregon. I put the reference to the kid's encyclopedia because it is the children who are most affected by these decisions and for whom we as adults should do everything possible to keep them from harm. I don't know what we can do to clean up the mess that was left behind for us, but whatever we can do, we must do.

Dilution is not the solution. If you're the lucky one who swallows (or inhales) the hot particle, and it goes off inside you, it could start a cancer. No nukes is good nukes.

Groundwater be damned. They're located right on the river itself. And as Clinamen points out, people irrigate using water lifted and siphoned from the Columbia River. Not to mention, of course, that it flows to the sea so we all get to enjoy the fruits of their radioactive labor. I'm sure it was originally located where it is because the land was remote and cheap. In every other way, it is an idiotic location. But then I can't think of a really safe location to store radioactive material.

Lest we forget:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/radiation/dir/mstreet/commeet/pm02/pm2trnsb.txt

Hi,
While a director on Capitol Hill, I was having lunch outside of the U.S. House with one of my former college roommates who had become A.A. to Cong. Biz Johnson, Chairman of the House Interior Committee. When I told my former college roomate that we were moving to Oregon, he immediately said, "You know, of course, that Hanford is leaking radioactive waste into the Columbia River, don't you?"

That was told to me in 1978, 35 years ago by the A.A. to the House Interior Committee Chairman!

Yes, fellow Oregonians, we're being "HAD" by both parties by the politicians, by the corporatists, and the nuclear industries. You may also ask WHO the professor was who tested for radioactivity at the I-205 Bridge and found significant radioactivity there.

Just an FYI for you to consider.

Ronnie has been in there (OR then the Senate then NY) waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long.

Of course, we're OR, we don't deserve a whole two senators.

This being Oregon do we even have ONE, Senator ?

Glen Comuntzis,
OK, I am asking.
If you can't give names, can you direct to test data and protocols.