In the state of Washington, there is radioactive waste leaking at the Hanford nuclear site. Call me crazy, but it’s my feeling that wind doesn’t leak, nor does solar power… but that’s another argument for another day.

Today let’s concentrate on cleaning up yet another potentially lethal nuclear mess.

Via the L.A. Times:

An aging tank of high-level radioactive waste is leaking at the Hanford nuclear site in south-central Washington state at the rate of up to 300 gallons a year, federal authorities disclosed Friday after discovering a dip in the volume of toxic sludge in the tank.

Gov. Jay Inslee said, “This raises concerns not only about the existing leak that has been recently discovered, but also concerning the integrity of the other single-shell tanks of this age, some of which have experienced prior leaks.”

Meh, no worries:

State officials say there is no immediate public health threat, because it could take years or even decades for the leaked material to reach the groundwater and move on to the nearby Columbia River.

See? It could take years before Washington residents have to worry about things like “public health threats,” or as I like to call them, fear, pain, suffering, cancer, and death.

What’s everyone getting so worked up about? Relax. There are plenty of hard-working federal employees who are working to clean up the toxic slop before anything really bad happens. They are the heroes of this story. They are on it.

But Inslee said the timing of the leak’s discovery coincided unfortunately with a report this week from Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee that more than 1,000 federal employees now working on cleanup at the site could be placed on unpaid leave for six weeks if threatened federal budget “sequestration” cuts occurred on March 1.

Breathe, people. Obviously, Congress is all over it. They’d be fools to let something as dangerous as this slip by them, right?

Oh… Excuse me, something is coming through my imaginary earpiece, hang on…

“We’ve been told not to be in Congress. Speaker Boehner controls the agenda… and he sent us home.”

How’s that sequestration thing workin’ for ya?