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Washington
State was a hub of nuclear power development and research in United
States from the 1940’s through the 1980’s.
Activity is reduced at this time, but some research continues, and
one commercial reactor is currently in operation. The center of the
state’s nuclear power activity is at the Hanford Site, which
is operated by the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE).
The Hanford
site is on the Columbia River near the Tri-Cities, and contains
more than
60 percent of the nation’s highly toxic
radioactive chemical waste. Much of this waste was not properly contained,
and has resulted in some leakage into the air, water, and soil. However,
the Hanford site also contains some of Washington’s last intact
shrub-steppe habitats, large herds of elk, and has the last free
flowing reach of the Columbia River which supports significant populations
of Chinook and White Sturgeon.
Today, under
the direction of DOE, Washington State Department of Ecology’s Hanford
Division,
and the Environmental
Protection Agency, Hanford is undergoing the
world's largest environmental and
contaminant site cleanup. DOE along with the State of Washington
and the Environmental Protection Agency collectively are working
to clean up the site by the year 2024. WDFW’s Major Projects
Team, in collaboration with other agencies and tribes, are working
diligently under the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to help ensure the fish and wildlife resources
on site are protected and fully considered during cleanup. We have
been working with DOE and other agencies to restore decades of habitat
degradation on the Hanford site.
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In addition to the Hanford site
cleanup, WDFW major projects staff works with the Washington Energy
Facility Site Evaluation Council
to project operations
and fish and wildlife activity at the Columbia
Generating Facility, which is
also located on the Hanford Site, but operated by a public utility. This is
the last remaining nuclear plant operating in Washington state.
WDFW Major Projects Section also works with other environmental
agencies to apply the Natural
Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDA) Regulations
to ensure all resources impacted by the releases are compensated
for and restored. WDFW regional
and headquarters staff work closely with other renowned scientists,
to model and measure the impact of the affected resources from
the time of the original releases and extending into the future.
This provides the legal and scientific basis for quantifying
the public's loss of natural resources. WDFW, in partnership
with the Department of Ecology, is entrusted by the State of
Washington to negotiate legal settlements or take other legal
actions to ensure the restoration of damaged resources. Once
a settlement is reached, WDFW and partners develop and implement
restoration projects to ensure the public’s natural resources
interests are protected.
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