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Locke urges federal
meeting on commercial
use of FFTF
• Sent letter Friday
to Energy secretary
By Annette Cary
Herald staff writer
Washington Gov. Gary Locke
called for a federal cabinet-level
meeting to consider commercial
use
of Han-
ford's Fast
Flux Test
Facility in a
letter sent
Friday to
Energy Secre-
tary Spencer
Abraham.
The letter
was written
after he was
approached in the latest campaign
launched by Citizens for Medical
Isotopes in the Tri-Cities to win
support for saving the test reactor.
Abraham has called for the reactor
to be permanently shut down, and
work has started to permanently
dismantle it, including draining
sodium.
Locke also wrote he hoped the
Department of Energy "would not
engage in any irretrievable actions"
before a required environmental
study is completed.
Supporters of the reactor asked
him to call for heaters to be turned
on for the secondary cooling
system. Because the sodium has
been drained from that system, the
cold weather may cause the pipes
to crack and make restart of the
reactor unsafe without extensive
repairs.
"Doing nothing is irretrievable,"
said Bob Bromm,
chairman of the Eastern Wash-
ington Section of the American
Nuclear Society.
A request for bids to dismantle
the reactor appears to violate a
federal court decision saying that
an environmental study must be
done before the reactor is
decommissioned, according to
supporters of a restart.
"By moving ahead as antici-
pated, the DOE will, in effect,
preclude options such as a 'no
action' alternative in a decom-
missioning (study)," said the letter.
The cabinet-level meeting
should consider the possible role
of the Hanford nuclear reactor for
food security, homeland security
and medical isotope production,
Locke wrote in the letter.
"I believe that DOE, Health and
Human Services, the Department
of Homeland Security, and the
Department of Agriculture all
should be represented at such a
meeting," he wrote.
The letter mentioned "recent
developments," which Kirsten
Kendrick, the deputy communi-
cations director, said referred pri-
marily to food safety issues.
Although irradiating meat with
isotopes produced at the reactor
would be unlikely to kill the
abnormal proteins characteristic of
mad cow disease, it could kill
organisms that cause other
food-borne illnesses.
Supporters of the reactor said
the mad cow issue raised general
concerns about food safety.
In addition, supporters
pointed out a December article in
the newsletter for the Radio-
logical Society of North America
that said scientists and doctors lack
a reliable source of isotopes for
research on new ways to diagnose
and treat disease. It also said the
United States is too dependent on
isotopes produced in other countries,
including Canada, Holland, Sweden,
Africa and the states of the former
Soviet Union.
Locke's letter came after Jan-
uary's cold snap. Even supporters
warned cold weather could
irreparably damage the reactor.
Benton County Commissioner
Claude Oliver said Friday that he
believes the plant remains viable.
DOE has referred questions on
the issue this month to contractor
Fluor Hanford. Fluor has not
monitored for damage, because its
job is to permanently shut down the
reactor, according to a spokesman.
DOE ordered the reactor per-
manently shut down after
Republican and Democratic
administrations said there was no
economically feasible plan for a
restart.
Copies of Locke's letter were
sent to Washington's democratic
U.S. senators and Republican U.S.
Rep. Doc Hastings. State Rep.
Shirley Hankins, R-Richland, who
met with the governor on the issue
on behalf of the citizen group, also
was sent a copy.
• Reporter Annette Cary can be
reached at 582-1533 or via e-mail
at acary@tri-cityherald.com.
SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2004
TRI-CITY HERALD
B3
Locke