Tim Walsh, who heads the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), said Monday DOE’s Hanford Site in Washington state remains the program’s biggest nuclear cleanup challenge.
But at the same time Hanford, which accounts for about 40% of EM’s budget, is primed for a “breakout year,” Walsh told a Senate Armed Forces panel during a hearing in Washington, D.C.
The former plutonium production site, home to about 56 million gallons of liquid radioactive and hazardous waste, has at times in the past lacked “clear direction,” Walsh told the Armed Services subcommittee on Strategic Forces.
Walsh said his Hanford management team has spent much effort in “relationship building” with Washington state’s Department of Ecology, Hanford’s state regulator.
In response to questions from Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), chair of the subcommittee, and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), the ranking member, Walsh said EM is pursuing a “glass-plus” strategy.
Walsh told King that the long-anticipated Waste Treatment Plant began turning some of the lower-radiation sludge into glass form in October 2025. It will probably take about a year for the plant’s Direct-Feed-Low-Activity Waste Facilities to reach full production, the EM assistant secretary said.
Hanford also plans to supplement the Waste Treatment Plant with a concrete-like grout to solidify more of the liquid waste as quickly as possible. Walsh said he is “very bullish” on the use of grout to solidify more waste.
In his opening statement, Walsh said EM is working with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and other branches of DOE to maintain the department’s major “pillars.” This includes tearing down and remediating old Manhattan Project and Cold War sites for new energy, re-industrialization and nuclear security missions.
Walsh joined six other witnesses, including two from NNSA, to testify before the Senate Armed Forces panel on the White House’s fiscal 2027 budget request for key DOE and Department of Defense programs.
The Donald Trump administration has requested a budget of $27.4 billion for NNSA, which would be up about $7 billion from fiscal 2026, and $8.2 billion for the Environmental Management office, down roughly $300 million from the prior year. The Hanford Site would receive $2.95 million, which received more than $3 billion in fiscal 2026, which ends Sept. 30.
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright is expected to have more to say about DOE budget requests when he appears before two Senate panels later this week.
The Monday Senate hearing was webcast and more information can be found here.