Federal and state agencies could soon provide details about a new conceptual agreement for cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), said Tuesday.
Cantwell spoke during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on DOE’s fiscal 2025 budget request. The conceptual agreement, announced in May 2023, followed about three years of discussions after the state threatened legal action over Hanford cleanup.
“In a couple of weeks,” DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington state Department of Ecology “will be announcing a conclusion of holistic negotiations to update the consent decree,” Cantwell said at the hearing.
“And you know how important that Tri-Party Agreement is” for cleaning up 56 million gallons of radioactive waste at Hanford, Cantwell said to Secretary of Energy Granholm, the hearing’s sole witness. The agreement was reached in 1989 by the agencies to guide Hanford cleanup.
At the hearing, Cantwell sought Granholm’s commitment that the revised cleanup plans “will have milestones” with an opportunity for public comment.
“Yes, it’s exciting they are reaching a conclusion,” Granholm said, adding “obviously” DOE will work with the community to make sure the milestone process is transparent.
Also at the hearing, Granholm said the agency will soon be transferring 150 acres of Hanford land to Tri-Cities governments for economic development.
In another facet of site reuse, Granholm said DOE is soliciting for clean energy developers to provide 200 megawatts or more of carbon-free electricity at Hanford. The agency is evaluating those proposals, the secretary said.
In her written testimony, Granholm said the Joe Biden administration is seeking $8.2 billion for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, which would be less than the 2024 level of $8.5 billion for cleanup of Cold War and Manhattan Project sites.
As it often does, the biggest single chunk, $3.1 billion, would go to Hanford, the former plutonium production complex. Next year, Hanford is expected to start converting some of the less radioactive tank waste into a solid glass form at the Bechtel-built Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.
