PORTLAND - Led by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, the state of Oregon and Northwest environmental groups renewed threats Thursday to fight any attempt to revive Hanford's experimental reactor.

Wyden, D-Ore., led off a Portland press conference to emphasize just how far they'll go to stop resurrection of the Fast Flux Test Facility.

"We are going to fight them every single step of the way,"Wyden said.

Harold Heacock, the Tri-City Industrial Development Council's representative to the Hanford Advisory Board, which is meeting in Portland, said: "I look at their statements somewhat as saber-rattling." The fuss was prompted by expectations that Energy Secretary Bill Richardson will decide this month whether to order a permanent shutdown of the dormant FFTF or to begin an environmental impact study on that could lead to reviving the plant.

Wyden said he believes that if Richardson calls for the environmental study it would in effect be a decision to revive the reactor.

FFTF is being considered as an option for making tritium for nuclear bombs, various other isotopes for cancer and other medical treatments and plutonium 238 to power batteries for the space program.

The Northwest is split on reviving the reactor. Washington political leaders and Tri-City interests want to resurrect it, primarily to launch a long-term mission of making medical isotopes. Oregon political leaders and environmental groups argue it is unsafe and would produce more nuclear wastes.

Heacock and Pam Brown, Richland's Hanford analyst who works closely with a coalition of Mid-Columbia governments, said TRIDEC and the local governments will work hard to ensure the FFTF gets a fair evaluation, including an environmental impact study.

Heacock said environmentalists are misinterpreting technical information in their criticisms of FFTF safety.

Wyden - who was backed by Oregon state officials and a coalition of more than a dozen Northwest environmental groups - outlined how they might escalate their opposition.

Greg DeBruler, a technical adviser to Columbia River United, said the threatened actions are possible ways the environmental groups might respond, but not all the groups may use them.

The possible actions included:

Filing lawsuits to stop the FFTF or even to tie up the nation's entire tritium production revival program. Gerald Pollet, director of Heart of America Northwest, said his organization sent a letter to Richardson on Monday saying it will file a notice of intent to sue if DOE names the FFTF in any role in producing tritium.

Wyden threatened to introduce legislation to remove DOE from being in charge of cleanup at Hanford. He speculated a potential replacement could be another federal agency, or some sort of Oregon- Washington board similar to the Northwest Power Planning Council.

Seeking the elimination of all nonemergency cleanup money for Hanford until DOE scraps the FFTF.

Organizing opposition to any presidential candidate who does not oppose the FFTF. Washington's top two Democrats - Gov. Gary Locke and Sen. Patty Murray - support reviving the FFTF for a medical isotope mission.

Civil disobedience.

Meanwhile, Brown said the Hanford Communities coalition is discussing the proposal to use FFTF to create plutonium 238.

The group supports using it to irradiate neptunium to create plutonium 238. But Brown said Hanford Communities is considering opposing using Hanford to chemically separate the plutonium from the irradiated targets.

That could eliminate much of the wastes that have helped sparked opposition to a plutonium 238 mission, she said.