Jan. 14, 1998
To Paige Knight /Hanford Watch
Dear Ms. Knight:
Thank you for your invitation to participate in today's Department of Energy
hearing on altering the 1989 Hanford Tri-Party Agreement and restarting the
Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) for the purpose of producing tritium for
nuclear weapons.  I regret that previous commitments prevent me from
attending this critical event.

The persistence by some to exhume nuclear weapons production activities at
Hanford never ceases to amaze me.  It is shameful enough that the region has
not taken steps to close its only operating commercial nuclear reactor, the
WNP-2 plant at Hanford, even though an excellent case can be made against it
now on purely economic grounds.  This abdication of responsibility pales in
comparison, however, to the insidious proposal to restart the aging FFTF
research reactor for the purpose of producing tritium, a radioactive
substance that enhances the destructive capability of nuclear weapons.

It is disappointing that this issue is even being seriously discussed here,
a region of the country that has learned the hard way that the price of
nuclear technology is much higher than the experts and proponents of nuclear
power are ever honest enough to acknowledge.  For example, the WPPSS nuclear
debacle was one of the greatest economic disasters of the century, and
continues to cost the region's electricity customers over $500 million a
year.  The Department of Energy was forced to stop lying to the public and
close the N Reactor at Hanford in 1988 when it was revealed that hundreds of
millions of taxpayer dollars were being wasted producing a product 
(plutonium) for which there was no critical need.  The clean up of the
Hanford Reservation will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, take decades
to accomplish, and continue to threaten human health and safety.  The Trojan
nuclear power plant in Oregon was closed because it was uneconomic, and
still awaits decommissioning.

Considering all this, how could any rational person or bureaucracy consider
adding to the nuclear misery already visited upon the Pacific Northwest? 
How many lessons do we have to learn before we turn away from the broken
promises of nuclear myths?  Hanford already is the greatest environmental
threat to the people of the Pacific Northwest.  Restarting any nuclear
reactor for weapons production purposes is misguided at best, and
transparently evil, at worst.  It also is a clear violation of the spirit
and intent of the Tri-Party Agreement and a complete reversal of our focused
mission over the last 20 years to clean up the largest environmental
disaster area in the Nation.

Long ago the Northwest made decisions that turned us away from nuclear
production of weapons material and electricity.  It is time again to reject
the sermons of the nuclear proselytizers and say no to those who preach
death, destruction and ruin to our world and the region. 

I commend you for your continued commitment to protecting the people and the
environment of the Pacific Northwest.  Do not hesitate to let me know if I
can be of further service to your endeavors.

With kind regards.
Sincerely, 
Mark O. Hatfield