Key Pacific Northwest lawmakers in the House and Senate pledged this week to ensure the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state gets more than the nearly $2 billion proposed in President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget.
The two DOE offices that oversee cleanup and radioactive waste management at the former plutonium manufacturing complex would receive roughly $1.91 billion for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, if the White House budget is signed into law. Hanford’s Office of River Protection and the Richland Operations Office this year are together funded at about $2.5 billion.
“Since I came to Congress [in 2015], each Administration has proposed budget cuts for Hanford,” said Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose district includes the 586-square-mile complex, said in an emailed statement.
Newhouse, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said he would again work with the White House, DOE contractors, and other stakeholders to “ensure our taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently, while also fulfilling the government’s legal and moral obligation to the cleanup.”
“The administration’s budget short-changes Hanford workers and falls woefully short of meeting the federal commitment to the people of the Tri-Cities and Washington state,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said in an emailed statement. “I will continue to fight for the funding necessary to meet the clean-up agreement.”
The Energy Department wants $1.26 billion for the Office of River Protection, which oversees management of 56 million gallons of radioactive liquid and chemical waste held in 177 underground tanks at Hanford. A year ago, the administration asked for $1.4 billion for the office. Congress ultimately bumped that up to almost $1.62 billion through Sept. 30.
The agency is seeking $655 million for the Richland Operations Office, which manages cleanup contractors and oversees site-wide infrastructure at Hanford. The White House a year ago sought $718 million. That also got notched up to $912 million on Capitol Hill.
Until the detailed budget is issued, it is difficult to say how the money will be distributed for various tasks at the Hanford offices.
“Cleanup of the Hanford Site continues as one of EM’s highest priorities, reflected in the site receiving the largest proposed funding level in the FY21 request and accounting for approximately one-third of EM’s entire funding request,” an Energy Department spokesperson said by email Tuesday.
Overall, the White House requested $6.1 billion for the DOE Office of Environmental Management, which oversees remediation at Hanford and 15 other nuclear-weapon sites around the nation. That would be far lower than the nearly $7.5 billion appropriated by Congress for fiscal 2020, but also down from the $6.5 billion DOE asked for last time around.
Hanford is most complex and highest-funded among the EM sites. It produced plutonium for more than 40 years, a process that generates larges amounts of liquid and solid waste. Some waste was placed in steel drums or wooden boxes before being buried onsite, other waste placed in the ground without a container, according to a DOE website.
The budget would support activities related to Bechtel’s planned 2023 commencement of low-activity waste vitrification operations at the Waste Treatment Plant, but not much more, said David Reeploeg, vice president for federal programs at the Hanford-area Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC).
But other important work would be underfunded, Reeploeg said in an email statement passed on by the Hanford Communities organization. “Thankfully Congress has a say in these funding decisions, and we have a great congressional delegation with a proven track record of successfully fighting for Hanford funding,” he added.
Bechtel, which is building the vitrification plant, and tank operations contractor Washington River Protection Solutions, both declined comment.
