Oregon Public Broadcasting

A federal commission concluded two days of hearings today that included testimony from Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, Native Americans and environmental watchdogs. The blue ribbon panel has a daunting task: To decide the future of the nation's nuclear waste.

Many who spoke urged the federal government to decide soon where that waste will go so that there’s a plan to remove it from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Anna King reports from Kennewick Washington.

The Commission on America's Nuclear Future has a lot to think about after two days of passionate testimony. The question is where will the waste go now that President Obama has stuck down Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as a permanent storage option.

Anna King / Northwest News Network

Workers spray water for dust control at the C Tank Farm at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

One of those to speak is Stuart Harris, with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation near Pendleton, Oregon. He told the blue ribbon commission that one result of the nation's nuclear legacy is a mess on his tribes’ traditional lands.

Stuart Harris: "I challenge you to take full responsibility for your decisions, for your outcomes here. Because countless generations will be living with the consequences. My people won’t remember your name in a thousand years, but they will know what you decided."

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire appeared before the commission too. She said since Yucca Mountain has been shut down, she's lost confidence that the federal government will pick a new site for nuclear waste storage anytime soon.

Chris Gregoire: "Hanford can not wait. It can not wait. There should be no excuse whatsoever to stop the cleanup and there should be every incentive in the world to get it going at full charge. We’ve spent how many years studying, thinking, planning, looking at the science – time to move on we can not afford any more delay."

The blue ribbon commission plans to issue it's report a year from now. The panel is co-chaired by Brent Scowcroft, national security advisor to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush.

He says the commission won't decide where to store the nation's nuclear waste. But it will map out the best way to handle that waste.

Brent Scowcroft: "Hanford happens to be a specific site, but we can generalize from that in terms of the problems it presents to anywhere we might recommend or any process that we recommend for the temporary and permanent storage."

Scrowcoft also says visiting Hanford in person has driven home the gravity of this problem. The commissioners got to see tanks full of radioactive sludge, canisters that glowed under a deep pool of water and a giant factory that’s designed to bind-up some of that waste into more stable glass.

Scrowcoft says the visit impressed upon the commission members how much responsibility they have on their shoulders.