Washington state officials are optimistic that the Hanford nuclear reservation budget for the next fiscal year could top $3 billion — a record level of funding.

“There’s more work to do, but this is a big step in the right direction to getting this cleanup done efficiently, effectively and safely,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee posted on Twitter Tuesday afternoon.

The Biden administration is proposing a budget that increases spending from $8.2 billion to $8.3 billion for fiscal 2024 on environmental cleanup of Department of Energy sites used for nuclear weapons production.

According to information released this week to back up the budget request, it includes an increase in spending at the Hanford site while some others programs and sites could see cuts.

The Hanford vitrification plant being prepared to treat radioactive waste for disposal could see a budget of $1 billion in the coming fiscal year, which starts in October. That’s up from about $875 million in current spending, according to the federal documents.

The Hanford tank farms, where 56 million gallons of the waste are stored in underground tanks until it can be treated for disposal, could see an increase of about $34 million, according to the federal documents.

However, the allotment for the other work at Hanford — including managing the 580-square-mile site and cleaning up contaminated ground water, soil and obsolete buildings — could drop from $1 billion to $921 million.

The state of Washington has crunched the numbers to include additional Hanford spending that comes from other areas of the Department of Energy budget, such as security spending and management of the defunct Fast Flux Test Facility, to come up with an overall estimate of just over $3 billion for fiscal 2024.

“This is truly an unprecedented budget request, and it’s encouraging to see that the administration recognizes the funding level for Hanford cleanup will need to increase,” said David Reeploeg, the Tri-City Development Council, vice president for federal programs.

More details are expected to be released in budget justification documents in the coming weeks.

HANFORD BUDGET REVERSAL 

A year ago the Biden administration proposed a Hanford spending cut from fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2023 of $172 million.

But then in an unusual step, it released a revised budget request specifically for Hanford in June 2022 to ask that the Hanford budget instead be increased by about $191 million.

Congress ended up passing what was then a record Hanford budget, with the latest Biden proposal for fiscal 2024 topping that.

While state officials are pleased that this year the Biden administration is proposing another increase, it still will not be enough money to meet the federal government’s legal requirements to keep environmental cleanup on track.

Both a federal court consent decree and the Tri-Party Agreement set standards and deadlines for the federal governments environmental cleanup at Hanford.

“We recognize an additional $700 million is needed to fully fund the cleanup work,” said Laura Watson, director of the Washington state Department of Ecology in a statement.

But she said the initial budget information shows that efforts to increase funding and keep Hanford cleanup on track are gaining traction in Washington, D.C.

“We are making positive strides, and look forward to working further with the administration and Congress,” she said.

Inslee thanked the Washington congressional delegation, particularly Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., for their work toward larger Hanford budgets.

He also gave a shout-out to the Washington state Department of Ecology, Oregon, environmental and labor groups, and community organizations in the Tri-Cities. He pointed out that there have been “unified, bipartisan calls for the federal government to fund its commitments.” 

The Hanford site adjoining Richland in Eastern Washington was used during World War II and the Cold War to produce nearly two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program.

CONGRESS TO CONSIDER HANFORD BUDGET

The administration’s budget request is among the first public steps in setting the annual budget, with Congress setting the final amount.

Hanford is in a good position with powerful support from Murray as chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., serving on the House Appropriations Committee.

“I’m glad the president heard me loud and clear — you can’t shortchange the Hanford cleanup or the workers who power that mission,” Murray said Tuesday.

“This budget proposal is historic progress and will help tremendously as I work to build off the record funding I helped to secure in last year’s spending package,” she said.

The Energy Communities Alliance says that the Senate plans to complete its appropriations bills, which would set the Hanford budget amount, by the end of May.

“It is an ambitious timeline, as the Senate did not pass any appropriations bills the last two fiscal years,” the alliance said in its report on the administration request.

Continue reading >>