Collapsed tunnel at Hanford prompts emergency

The emergency declared May 9 at the Hanford nuclear reservation north of Richland sent shock waves through the Tri-City community and grabbed global news headlines.

The cave-in of a 20-foot section of a tunnel hundreds of feet long that’s used to store radioactively contaminated materials didn’t injure any workers and there have been no reports of radiological contamination, the U.S. Department of Energy Richland Operations Office reported.

The tunnel is one of two rail car tunnels built in the 1950s and 1960s to store contaminated equipment, loaded on rail cars, from plutonium production. They were built with wood and concrete and covered with about 8 feet of soil.

The tunnel is located next to the Plutonium Uranium Extraction Plant, or PUREX, which is in the 200 East Area in central Hanford

The state Department of Ecology took legal action against the federal government through an enforcement order, to immediately assess the integrity of the tunnels and take swift corrective action. The state agency oversees and regulates the federal government’s Hanford cleanup work.

Workers “slowly and methodically” filled the hole with about 50 truckloads of soil the next day, said Destry Henderson of DOE Emergency Operations Office.

Workers near PUREX as well as the Hanford site north of the Wye barricade, the southern entrance to the site, were told to shelter in-place for a few hours and later sent home from work early as a precaution. Non-essential workers north of the Wye Barricade were kept home from work the following day.

Franklin, Benton county best places to own home

Benton and Franklin counties ranked among the best places to own a home in Washington, according to a recent study.

SmartAsset’s third annual study compared average rent and home prices in counties across the U.S. to find the places where buying makes the most sense.

The financial technology firm compared the total costs of buying and renting a typical home in each county, for a household earning $100,000 a year. For the “buy” scenario, it made the following assumptions: a mortgage rate of 4.5 percent, closing costs of $2,000, and a down payment of 20 percent.

For each county, it found the break-even point in the buy-versus-rent decision — the point at which the total costs of renting become greater than the total costs of buying.

The counties with the shortest time to break even are the best places to buy.

In Franklin County, the break-even point was at two years and in Benton County it was three years.

Franklin County’s average monthly mortgage payment is $655, while its average monthly rent payment is $1,211, according to the study.

Benton County’s average monthly mortgage payment is $723, while its average monthly rent payment was the same as its neighboring county at $1,211, according to the study.

Topping the SmartAsset list at No. 1 was Grays Harbor County.

Forklift drivers: Test your skills at regional tryouts

Professional forklift drivers from across the state are invited to demonstrate their skills in regional tryouts in Spokane and Seattle. Top finishers will take part in the statewide Forklift Rodeo in September.

The Spokane regional qualifying event is May 20 and the Seattle Regional tryout is Aug. 19.

The entry fee is $40 for competitors.

Competitors must pass a written exam and a pre-use forklift inspection before competing in the obstacle course.

Cash prizes are awarded to the top drivers at both regional and state levels and to the top teams in each region.

To register, visit wagovconf.org or call 206-281-3842 or 1-888-451-2004.

Trios remodels building, consolidates providers 

Major remodel work is complete and multiple adjacent Trios Medical Group provider practices have moved into a transformed space at the Trios Care Center at Chavallo Complex at 7211 W. Deschutes Ave., Suite B in Kennewick.

Several of the providers were previously located elsewhere in the complex, while some are new additions to complement the facility’s existing specialty base.

The remodel brings specialty practices formerly housed in separate suites into a single space with centralized patient registration and waiting areas as well as more efficient staffing and provider partnering opportunities.

For more information about Trios Medical Group provider practice and service locations, visit trioshealth.org/Locations.

Trios Health’s mammography service is now operating at its new location at the Trios Care Center at Southridge at 3730 Plaza Way in Kennewick. No scheduled appointments at the service’s old location on Young Street were affected by the move.

Trios Health is the Kennewick Public Hospital District’s system of care serving the greater Tri-Cities.

Local Arby’s franchises sold to US Beef

Ten Arby’s restaurants in the Tri-Cities, Yakima and Moses Lake in Washington, as well as Coeur d’Alene and Hayden in Idaho, have been acquired by United States Beef Corp., Arby’s largest franchisee.

Richard Riva, president of Cascade Beef Inc. and Riva Real Estate LLC and Deana Harris, president of 3 Rivers Roast Beef, sold their franchises to US Beef. Harris will remain with US Beef as an area director.

Arby’s was founded in 1964 as the first nationally franchised sandwich restaurant brand. It is headquartered in Atlanta and has more than 3,300 restaurants worldwide.

16th District legislative offices re-open

Although the 105-day regular session of the state Legislature finished April 23 and lawmakers were called into an immediate 30-day session, Sen. Maureen Walsh, Rep. Terry Nealey and Rep. Bill Jenkin have re-opened their shared 16th District offices in Walla Walla and Pasco.

The offices, located at 1110 Osprey Pointe Blvd. in Pasco, and 26 E. Main St. in Walla Walla, are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Hanford site exceeds annual recycling goal

Due to efforts of employees and recycling programs at Hanford, the site has exceeded its annual recycling goals.

As the site services coordinator for the Department of Energy on the Hanford site, Mission Support Alliance manages recycling programs and sets a goal to divert at least 50 percent of nonhazardous solid waste and 50 percent of construction and demolition debris from landfills.

Last year, about 85 percent of nonhazardous material and 59 percent of construction and demolition debris did not reach landfills.

Local unemployment decreased in March

The Washington State Employment Security Department recently released its March 2017 numbers.

In the Kennewick-Pasco-Richland metropolitan statistical area, as designated by the U.S. Census Bureau, the annual average unemployment rate decreased from 7.5 to 6.6 percent over the year. The labor force expanded and the number of unemployed persons lessened. Non-seasonally adjusted numbers show that nonfarm employment increased 2.8 percent from March 2016 to March 2017.

Sandvik Metals, Columbia Riverkeeper settle 

On April 17, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Washington entered an agreement settling a Clean Water Act case between Sandvik Specialty Metals LLC and nonprofit organization Columbia Riverkeeper.

At a facility near Kennewick, Sandvik makes seamless metal tubes for the aerospace and nuclear industries. The company reported in 2015 that it discharged more ammonia and fluoride into the Columbia River than its water pollution permit allowed. As part of the agreement, Sandvik will update its water pollution control technology and pay a total of $650,000 to three nonprofits that will use the money for projects to protect and restore water quality in the Columbia River and its tributaries.

Columbia Riverkeeper’s mission is to restore and protect the water quality of the Columbia River and all life connected to it, from the headwaters to the Pacific Ocean.

Women Helping Women Fund announces speaker

Libby Moore, certified life coach, story teller and connector, will speak at Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities’ 17th annual fundraising luncheon on Oct. 12.

Moore was chief of staff to Oprah Winfrey for 11 years and prior to that executive assistant to Jann Wenner of Wenner Media, publisher of Rolling Stone, US Weekly and Men’s Journal.

Fowler chosen to build Kennewick’s Elementary #17

Fowler Construction of Richland was chosen to build Kennewick School District’s Elementary #17, a dual language elementary school at the former site of Desert Hills Middle School on west 10th Place.

Construction of the $16.9 million project will begin this spring with the school opening in fall of 2018.

Fowler most recently built the new Desert Hills Middle School, Chinook Middle School and Sage Crest Elementary School for the district.

Petroleum company to upgrade storage tanks 

Christensen Inc., a Grandview petroleum storage and distribution company has reached an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency over its failure to submit required emergency planning information for five of its facilities, including one on Commercial Avenue in Pasco.

The company was fined $65,670 and as part of its agreement with EPA will install a high-tech, web-based leak detection system to monitor 180 underground storage tanks at locations in Washington, Idaho and Oregon.

DOE, MSA complete  infrastructure project

The U.S. Department of Energy Richland operations office and prime contractor Mission Support Alliance recently completed an infrastructure project that allows cleanup work to continue at the Hanford site.

MSA replaced nearly five miles of aging water lines to eliminate the need for frequent emergency repairs, and provide better and more reliable operation of these systems of the site water system.

The water system supports more than 8,000 workers in the Central Plateau at Hanford, where most of the cleanup work will be focused in coming years.