Staff Reports
WC Monitor
3/07/2014
Spending at Department of Energy cleanup sites is proposed to be cut under the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request in part because some work is being completed, the director of the Office of Management and Budget said at a Senate Budget Committee hearing held this week. But Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told OMB Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell that “we have really serious challenges in making progress at these nuclear sites across the country.” The Administration’s proposed Fiscal Year 2015 budget calls for DOE to cut cleanup costs nationwide by $135 million, including almost $100 million at Hanford’s Richland Operations Office, Murray said. The Hanford Office of River Protection would receive an increase of almost $25 million.
Murray told Burwell that OMB and DOE need to work with her to create a long-term, sustainable plan for paying for Hanford cleanup. A comprehensive plan is needed to make sure the needs for Hanford cleanup are being met, Murray said. “I’ve been very clear in conversations with you and the Department of Energy I expect the federal government to meet its milestones at defense environmental cleanup sites,” Murray said. The proposed budget would meet deadlines and the Obama Administration is committed to making cleanup progress at Hanford and other sites, Burwell said. The total budget proposed by the Obama Administration for Hanford in FY 2015 is just less than $2.15 billion, down from about $2.2 billion this year when all spending is considered, including security and non-defense spending for the Fast Flux Test Facility. However, the just-released 2014 Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost report put the budget needs of Hanford at about $3.2 billion in FY 2015 to meet cleanup obligations. The report is a requirement of the Tri-Party Agreement to inform budget planning.
More Details to Come
Details have not been released on which projects of the Richland Operations Office are proposed to lose funding under the Administration’s budget request. The Richland Operations Office has been working toward a plan to complete much of the cleanup along the Columbia River in 2015. However, some work, including cleanup of the high-risk 618-11 Burial Ground, will not be finished. A high-level radioactive spill under the 324 Building also is not expected to be cleaned up and sludge will continue to be held in underwater containers at the K West Reactor basin. In addition, the K East and K West Reactors will not be cocooned. As cleanup advances along the Columbia River, Hanford officials have planned to shift more resources to central Hanford where limited work has been done to clean up contamination left from the chemical processing of irradiated fuel.
