Oregon senator to ask for GAO probe, removal of 'all radioactive waste' from Hanford site in Wash.

KOIN:

YAKIMA, Wash. (KOIN/AP) -- A spokesman for Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden says the senator will ask the Government Accountability Office to investigate a monitoring and maintenance program for underground waste tanks at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site.    The request follows news Friday that six tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation are leaking.Wyden is the new chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He has said he'll seek a commitment during confirmation hearings for the next energy secretary that all radioactive waste at Hanford will be cleaned up. (Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, announced earlier this month that he is stepping down after serving in the post during Obama's first term.)     * Remaining Hanford nuclear cleanup to cost $112B    Wyden toured the site Tuesday after it was announced last week that one tank was leaking. His spokesman, Tom Towslee, said Friday that the senator would seek the investigation following the announcement of more leaking tanks.KOIN talked to a Department of Energy spokesperson this past weekend after news broke of the first holding tank to be documented losing liquids since all Hanford tanks were stabilized in 2005."Around the T[ank] farm we have monitoring wells," said Department of Energy Spokesperson Lori Gamache. "And we haven't identified any significant changes in the concentration of chemicals or radionuclides in the soil." The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is in Richland, Wash. -- about 220 miles east and slightly north of downtown Portland.Related KOIN.com articles:Radioactive rabbit droppings found at Hanford siteLeaking Wash. nuclear tank has yet to make 'significant changes' to soilSix underground Hanford nuclear tanks leaking

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