Radiation blown onto highway at Hanford ‘alarming’ to EPA

RICHLAND – The Environmental Protection Agency says the uncontrolled spread of small amounts of radioactive waste at Hanford after a Nov. 17 windstorm is alarming.

The winds pushed specks of contamination beyond Route 4, the public highway from Richland out to the Wye Barricade entrance to Hanford.

The Tri-City Herald reports that tests found no contamination on the public highway. And the Department of Energy concluded that workers and the public are not at risk of exposure.

But the EPA in a letter says the uncontrolled spread of contamination “is a matter that is alarming to EPA and requires further investigation and discussion.”

It has given the Energy Department until the third week of April to prepare a report on its loss of control of radioactive material.