Reagan Pledges Care in Picking N-Dump Sites

President Reagan sought to soothe a raw nerve in Washington state’s tight Senate race today, pledging his Administration to scrupulously observe the law in picking nuclear waste dump sites, one of which may be put in Hanford.

Reagan flew to Spokane in an effort to help Republican Slade Gorton hang on to his Senate seat in the face of strong opposition from Democrat Brock Adams.

Late in the day, he was heading to Idaho and finally to California, continuing a final seven-state rescue mission for endangered Republicans.

Without committing himself to exempt Hanford, Wash., from the list of reluctant candidates for the nuclear waste dump, Reagan credited Gorton with winning a 12-month delay in test drilling that is part of the multibillion-dollar site selection process.

“Slade has alerted me that some people have suggested that this Administration might intentionally circumvent the law,” Reagan said, in an evident reference to Gorton’s opponent, Adams.

Letter of the Law

“Well, that’s the kind of thing that touches my temperature control,” Reagan told a Gorton campaign rally. “Let me tell you I will see to it that the law on this issue is followed to the letter, and let no one tell you differently.”

Adams, a former secretary of transportation in the Carter Cabinet, has charged that some powerful members of Congress from other states have persuaded the Reagan Administration to leave their states off the list of potential waste dump sites.

Adams had also raised the possibility that Reagan, visiting Washington just before Election Day, would pull a “Hanford surprise” by announcing a complete restart of the process that could bring the dump to the state.

Gorton said he met with Reagan’s advisers after the President’s arrival in Spokane Thursday night but won no commitment that Reagan would announce that Hanford would be stricken from the list of candidates.