Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) called on Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Washington State Governor Jay Inslee (D) late last week to develop a final plan for completing the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant and moving forward with tank waste cleanup at the site. In a letter to both officials, Hastings said he was concerned over the lack of details in a framework document DOE released this fall for completing the WTP. “It will be impossible to achieve a workable path forward unless the Department provides the State of Washington with the information it needs to make informed decisions that are in the best interest of our communities,” Hastings wrote. “Without a finalized plan including a renegotiated Consent Decree, funding could be jeopardized, flexibility concerning budget control points with not be granted and momentum for this linchpin of Hanford’s mission could be slowed even further.”
Saying that any plan for the WTP must be “workable and achievable,” Hastings warned DOE against looking to move money from the Richland Operations Office side of Hanford to address funding issues at the Office of River Protection, which oversees the Hanford vit plant. He wrote that “I consider any plan that combines the Office of River Protection and the Richland Operations Office or that shifts funding from the Richland Operations Office to the Office of River Protection to undermine the entire mission of Hanford and represent a step backwards for cleanup. The River Corridor Closure project has been one of the Department’s greatest success stories. After this project is completed, those funds will be needed for other priority cleanup projects within the Richland Operations Office that must also meet key legal commitments.”