Trump administration proposes deep Hanford spending cuts. “Woefully short,” says senator

The Trump administration proposed a steep spending cut for environmental cleanup of the Hanford nuclear reservation in its fiscal 2021 budget request released Monday.

Budget charts for the Department of Energy proposed slashing more than $700 million from current spending at Hanford, leaving the budget at about $1.8 billion.

The initial budget numbers do not include all spending, such as money for safety and security.

Current spending at Hanford is more than $2.5 billion for the same line items included in the administration’s proposal.

“The administration’s budget shortchanges Hanford workers and falls woefully short of meeting the federal commitment to the people of the Tri-Cities and Washington state,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

The site in Washington state served a critical national security mission for decades and the U.S. government has an obligation to clean it up as quickly and safely as possible, she said.

A year ago the Trump administration proposed a budget cut of about $416 million.

However, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Cantwell and Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., fought to not only restore proposed cuts, but Murray also secured an increase in spending.

“Since I came to Congress, each administration has proposed budget cuts for Hanford, and I have worked with Department of Energy and state officials, contractors and Hanford workers to ensure out taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently, while also fulfilling the government’s legal and moral obligation to the cleanup,” Newhouse said.

The Obama administration proposed a cut in Hanford spending of a little over $100 million for fiscal 2017.

Redoing Trump’s ‘homework’

“For the third year running President Trump has put forward a budget that lets the federal government off the hook for its moral and legal obligation to the Tri-Cities community,” Murray said.

“Once again, my colleagues and I in Congress must now re-do the president’s homework to make sure the proper investments are being made to move critical Hanford clean-up efforts forward,” he said.

Newhouse said he would continue to work with the Trump administration and Washington state’s U.S. senators to “restore funding levels and get the job done.”

The administration’s proposed fiscal 2021 budget would cut the DOE Richland Operations Office at the Hanford site by about $359 million, with the rest of the cut for the DOE Office of River Protection.

The Office of River Protection manages 56 million gallons of radioactive waste from the past production of plutonium in underground tanks and also manages the vitrification plant being built to prepare much of that waste for disposal.

The Richland Operations Office is responsible for all other Hanford work, including operating site services, digging up waste sites, tearing down contaminated buildings and cleaning groundwater.

Money for the tank farms, which includes funds to prepare waste for treatment, would drop from $763 million to $598 million. Vitrification plant funding would drop from $841 million to $660 million, according to budget documents.

“Successful Hanford cleanup requires adequate and consistent funding, so we’re disappointed in the administration’s request,” said David Reeploeg, the Tri-City Development Council vice president for federal programs.

TRIDEC will be working closely with the U.S. congressional delegation representing the Tri-Cities, and is confident they’ll do everything they can again this year to make sure Hanford receives needed funding, Reeploeg said.

No Yucca Mountain money

The budget proposal, as expected, had no money to continue licensing work at the Yucca Mountain, Nev., repository. Hanford’s vitrified high level radioactive waste and some used fuel is planned to be disposed of there.

Trump tweeted last week that he would be looking to innovative approaches for waste and used fuel, given Nevada’s opposition to the repository. Nevada is a swing state in the presidential election.

“The administration is strongly committed to fulfilling its legal obligations to manage and dispose of the nation’s nuclear waste and will not stand idly by given the stalemate on Yucca Mountain,” said budget documents released Monday.

“To create momentum and ensure progress, the administration is initiating processes to develop alternative solutions and engaging states in developing an actionable path forward,” the documents said.

This story was originally published February 10, 2020 at 5:24 PM.