The Department of Energy’s $8.2-billion fiscal 2027 request for its nuclear cleanup branch, which includes a budget cut for the Hanford Site in Washington state, would not affect solidification of less radioactive tank waste, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright told a House panel Wednesday.
Wright testified on behalf of the White House’s DOE budget request before the House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee. The overall 2027 budget request for the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) is down from about $8.5 billion enacted by Congress for fiscal 2026.
During an exchange with Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), Wright said the proposed $2.95 billion budget request for Hanford, $390-million less than the enacted level for fiscal 2026, would primarily affect facilities that are not yet fully designed.
The decrease “relates to the unobligated balances for partially-designed facilities, so that does not impact the vitrification plant,” Newhouse asked. “It does not,” the energy secretary said.
In other words, it will not affect the Direct-Feed-Low-Activity-Waste Facilities at the Bechtel-built Waste Treatment Plant at Hanford. After decades of planning and work, crews started converting some of the low-level radioactive tank waste to a solid glass form in October.
Newhouse, who is not seeking re-election, said it is critical for DOE to meet its legal cleanup milestones at Hanford.
“As the largest environmental cleanup program in the world, EM plays a key role in sustaining national security priorities through investments in new cleanup and remediation technologies, while supporting the communities where it operates,” Wright said in his written statement..
Neither Wright’s written statement or oral testimony mentioned renaming the Environmental Management office, something that Assistant Secretary Tim Walsh has said is in the works.
On another topic, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) urged Wright to look into the scattered land ownership pattern for Idaho National Laboratory. DOE does not own all of the 890-square-mile INL site. Much of the land is owned by the Interior Department and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Idaho’s Congressional delegation wrote the secretaries of energy and interior last week, expressing concern that the distributed land ownership will cause complications in the future.
“We are concerned this situation could impact new mission-critical activities, including the siting of AI [artificial intelligence] infrastructure and associated power generation, on withdrawn lands when land use authority remains unclear or requires extensive coordination with BLM,” according to the Idaho Congressional letter.
Simpson said there is a similar situation at the Hanford Site. Wright said he would reach out to the Interior Department and part of the ownership situation dates back to railroad construction days.
Speaking of AI, Wright touted DOE’s recent announcement of a planned AI data center at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. There was also discussion during the hearing about rising local opposition in some areas to data center development.
On a separate issue, Simpson encouraged Wright to pay attention to recent detection of unauthorized wireless devices in “secure areas” of DOE facilities. Wright said DOE was aware of the issue and looking into it.