An official website of the United States government A key facility supporting the Hanford Site’s tank waste cleanup mission is back in service following a series of repairs Office of Environmental Management RICHLAND, Wash. — A key facility supporting the Hanford Site’s tank waste cleanup mission is back in service following a series of repairs The 242-A Evaporator removes water from radioactive and chemical waste stored in underground tanks creating more storage space for waste retrieved from older tanks awaiting treatment as Hanford prepares to begin immobilizing the waste in glass for safe disposal Site contractor Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C) restarted the facility in March It’s now running three campaigns over two months “Enhancements made to the evaporator ensure it continues to operate safely and efficiently at a higher capacity which will be needed to support mission acceleration as we move to the next phase in cleanup,” said Ricky Bang Hanford deputy assistant manager for Tank Waste Operations a 242-A Evaporator shift manager for Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure declared the Hanford Site facility in operation mode on March 26 nuclear chemical operators with Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure perform valving to bring steam to the reboiler as part of the 242-A Evaporator startup “This has been a long and difficult but rewarding journey and processes have improved since the facility last ran in 2019,” said Carol Johnson “The team’s commitment to the mission is commendable The facility receives waste from a nearby group of underground waste storage tanks, where it’s boiled at low pressure to evaporate water. The remaining concentrated waste, known as slurry, is transferred back to a storage tank. The evaporated water is filtered and sent to Hanford’s Effluent Treatment Facility for additional treatment and disposal Since the evaporator began operating nearly 50 years ago it has helped remove more than 81 million gallons of liquid from the site’s waste tanks To receive the latest news and updates about the Office of Environmental Management (FOX26) — A homeless man led police on a high-speed chase in one of their own patrol vehicles It happened on Wednesday when the Hanford Police Homeless Assistance Resource Team (HART) was clearing a homeless encampment near Aquifer Drive and the San Joaquin Valley Railroad tracks The multi-agency cleanup was just wrapping up when officers encountered a homeless man later identified as 47-year-old Jacob Murray [RELATED]High-speed chase ends with arrest of man who stole his own impounded vehicle he jumped into an unlocked and running patrol truck while officers were distracted The pursuit involved Hanford police officers Kings County Sheriff's Office deputies as Murray reached speeds exceeding 100 mph on county roads The chase ended when Murray crashed into two vehicles at the intersection of Cherry Street and Tulare Avenue in Tulare Murray tried to run from the crash on foot but was quickly taken into custody He was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital before being booked into the Kings County Jail (FOX26) — A 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death at the Hanford Mall Saturday afternoon The Hanford Police Department says officers were called out to the mall around 5:30 p.m they found a juvenile male victim on the walkway outside of Kohl's with a stab wound to his neck emergency service personnel declared the victim deceased at the scene Witnesses reported seeing a group of juveniles fleeing the area The group was located near the Kings County Superior Court and detained with assistance from Kings County Sheriff's Office deputies [RELATED] Vigil held for teen shot and killed outside Clovis McDonald's Investigators reviewed video footage capturing the events leading up to the stabbing which showed the victim being attacked from behind A 15-year-old male from the detained group was identified as the suspect in the murder Multiple items were found on the suspect that connected to the homicide it was confirmed that a verbal disturbance occurred between the victim and the group inside the mall prior to the stabbing The 15-year-old suspect has been booked into the Kings County Juvenile Center on a charge of PC 187 murder Corcoran High School updated their profile picture with a ribbon and the initials L.S Swapping out an air filter at home is a simple task that most people can complete in minutes high-efficiency filters in a 70-year-old plutonium processing plant Crews with Hanford Field Office contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company recently replaced 72 air filters at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Uranium Extraction Plant to ensure the continued safe operation of the facility’s ventilation system — Swapping out an air filter at home is a simple task that most people can complete in minutes which played a key role in plutonium production for national defense "This work ensures the ventilation system continues to protect workers and the environment as we move forward with cleanup and risk reduction." Crews replaced 72 high-efficiency particulate air filters in the plant's exhaust system — each weighing 65 pounds and the size of a 2-by-2-foot box “I’m proud of our team for their dedication and determination in completing this project," said Dave McMahon "This helps us keep the PUREX complex safe and ready for ongoing monitoring This website uses cookies and other tracking technologies to enhance navigation, facilitate feedback, analyze usage of our products and services, support marketing efforts, and deliver third-party content. View our Privacy Policy. Our ultimate differentiator is the quality of our people — from our skilled craft professionals to our engineers and project managers We excel at fielding A-teams whose skills and expertise are tailored to each project’s specific demands Our VV&Cs are foundational to Bechtel’s culture They guide our actions and serve as a commitment to our customers and neighbors to always do the right thing Our leadership team is united in their commitment to driving progress and excellence They guide the company with a focus on delivering value to our customers and communities and making Bechtel the best place to work bechtel.org serves as the impact infrastructure arm of Bechtel Corporation delivering scalable and sustainable projects in communities with the greatest need These projects provide our teams with valuable experience to grow and excel We deliver challenging projects that elevate standards of living and support sustainable growth across the globe — from clean efficient transportation and sustainable energy to advanced manufacturing we offer a wide range of services to help realize our customers’ boldest ambitions With our integrated capabilities across a wide range of industries we offer complete solutions tailored to our customers’ goals our global reach and regional expertise enable us to work anywhere in the world We know that how we deliver is just as important as what we deliver We’re committed to operating safely and to offering best-in-class solutions to optimize for cost Our engineers combine collaborative design and data-centered execution to produce the world’s most iconic projects We guarantee the responsible purchase and safe delivery of materials on time We build extraordinary projects in the world’s most complex environments We apply our industry knowledge and experience as an EPC contractor to ensure safety and efficacy at every stage of your project Leveraging our full-scale scale project capabilities we deploy horizontal and vertical integration strategies to optimize project delivery — whether managing the entire project lifecycle or a single phase Nothing is more important than the safety of our colleagues We are steadfast in our commitment to ensuring that everyone returns home safely at the end of each day We reinforce the highest quality standards through accountability With integrity and fairness at the heart of our operations we are committed to the highest standards of ethical business conduct We implement sustainable practices to provide clean energy solutions and safeguard against environmental threats We’re committed to supporting the communities where we live and work As a global company with a reputation for taking on generation-defining projects we provide unparalleled learning and growth opportunities From engineers and project managers to skilled craft professionals and construction experts we seek colleagues who are eager to make their mark on the world Check out our job openings and learn more about joining our team We work every day to foster an environment where every colleague feels empowered Our colleagues around the world share why they chose to build their careers with Bechtel Innovative Battery Manufacturing Facilities Construction management consultancy for building innovative battery manufacturing facilities in the United States Bechtel is at the forefront of constructing innovative battery manufacturing facilities in the U.S Our expert team ensures compliance with local codes and… features a first-of-its-kind desalination plant and will operate on 100% renewable energy by 2025 Bechtel is delivering one of Australia’s largest infrastructure projects — a state-of-the-art airport designed to handle 10 million passengers annually the Department of Energy (DOE) launched a mission to build a one-of-a-kind complex at the Hanford Site in Washington state to transform World War II and Cold War era radioactive and chemical waste into a stable glass form making this one of the most challenging environmental projects in history Bechtel is honored to have been chosen as the DOE’s partner and we’re proud of our thousands of men and women who will deliver this critical project The DOE selected Bechtel’s team of engineers to design, construct, and commission this multi-facility complex, known as the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant Bechtel completed the first phase of construction after which the team transitioned to commissioning the plant the chosen technology to transform the waste into a stable form reached its operating temperature of 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit The waste being treated at Hanford dates to the Manhattan Project of the 1940’s The Hanford site is in southeastern Washington along the longest undammed stretch of the Columbia River The site was selected to build reactors that produced plutonium for World War II and the site continued operating during the Cold War nine reactors were built and used to generate plutonium for the U.S The production of plutonium created 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste which was stored in 177 underground single-shell and double-shell tanks at the site The tanks are corroding and require constant maintenance Removing the waste from the tanks and converting it to a more stable form is needed to protect the nearby Columbia river Bechtel is proud to have contributed to solutions for Hanford site projects since the 1990’s. Today’s mission continues that legacy of partnership with the DOE through designing the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant The Bechtel-designed facilities at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) are currently being completed in two phases, with the first phase being the Low-Activity Waste Facility, currently in commissioning. The High-Level Waste Facility is the second phase The WTP facility is sometimes called the Vit Plant because it uses a technique called vitrification that mixes the liquid waste with materials that cool to form solid glass Vitrification begins with heating glass-forming materials in the melters until they reach a molten state and then feeding the radioactive and chemical tank waste into that mixture the mixture of glass forming materials and waste will be poured into specially designed stainless-steel containers to cool and solidify into glass WTP’s Low-Activity Waste Facility will produce about 1,100 containers of immobilized waste per year which will be stored at the Hanford Site’s Integrated Disposal Facility In addition to the facilities that house the melters Bechtel has designed extensive facilities to support the site will allow team members to characterize waste constituents verify the material quantities needed to form glass and confirm that the glass produced by the Low-Activity Waste facility meets regulatory requirements and standards Bechtel designed the laboratory to handle the frequent samples that will be taken during plant operations Approximately 3,000 process samples will be analyzed by the laboratory staff per year to confirm high-quality glass product and good process controls Bechtel employees have applied their full range of talents toward addressing the unprecedented challenge of building a first-of-a-kind multi-facility complex to treat this radioactive and chemical waste From employees who have been on the project since it first started over two decades ago to subject matter experts who have shared their expertise during design Bechtel employees have been a key part of progress and innovation at the site Success at the Waste Treatment Plant project has come from a collaborative approach with our customers Bechtel has formed relationships with the local Tri-City communities of Richland Bechtel’s Savannah River Remediation safely processed Cold War-era radioactive waste The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant ensures safe permanent disposal of defense-related transuranic nuclear waste in a deep geologic repository The Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Plant safely processed and shipped 58,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste achieving DOE cleanup goals ahead of schedule Bechtel announced today that it has successfully completed the first set of test glass pours into a stainless-steel storage container designed to hold vitrified radioactive and chemical waste This is a critical step in the Department of Energy’s mission to.. Bechtel today named Senior Vice President Brian Hartman as project director for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) project at the U.S Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford Site in Washington state Hartman is a 40-year Bechtel veteran with extensive.. Bechtel announced today that Valerie McCain the late project manager at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) in Washington state was named a Top 25 Newsmaker for 2023 by Engineering News-Record magazine Groundbreaking ceremonies are familiar for Bechtel Along with our customers and labor partners we’ve participated in this custom hundreds of times all over the world But even more so when the groundbreaking is truly breaking new.. is once again building and innovating in nuclear power the second of two new nuclear units went into service in Georgia developers in Wyoming just filed permit applications for America’s next nuclear plant Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) fusion breakthrough was featured on 60 Minutes highlighting the work of the team at the laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) ignition was achieved at NIF when an experiment produced more energy.. [email protected] 2025 10:15 p.m.Undated photo of a gate and signs standing guard at one of the Hanford site’s tank farms Patty Murray expresses deep concern over Hanford site's safety after recent federal worker firings In conversations with people and businesses across the Tri-Cities you can sense a pall over this government town At dinners and in hushed calls with friends many Hanford workers are wondering if they’ll be cut next Murray said at a news conference Tuesday she’s concerned about the Trump administration’s dismissal of about 12 U.S. Department of Energy staffers and what effect that will have on safety at the site. The firings are part of the administration’s cost-cutting measures that have affected hundreds of thousands of federal government workers across the nation I’ve spent years trying to get the Hanford the resources it needs,” Murray said but it’s still understaffed even before these pointless layoffs last week cut it down to a skeleton crew.” Related: Trump’s firing of Forest Service workers raises concerns about wildfires in Oregon, the West Murray held the news conference to publicly oppose the Trump administration’s cuts She said she’s trying to shed light on these decisions Hanford is the legacy of plutonium manufacturing during WWII and the Cold War and 56 million gallons of toxic radioactive sludge stored in aging underground tanks that leak Hanford and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory account for about 13% of the jobs in the Tri-Cities economy each year, according to David Reeploeg, Vice President for Federal Programs with TRIDEC the region’s economic development organization Those jobs represent about 24% of the total income of the area “Any time you have changes or departures in the workforce it’s going to be hard on people,” said Reeploeg who was not at Murray’s news conference but spoke later in an interview “Hopefully these people that are departing have other strong career opportunities here in the community.” Reeploeg said some uncertainty happens with every new administration “This administration is being more aggressive than we’ve seen in the past,” he said “We hope to work really closely with the new (Department of Energy) leadership on the cleanup mission at Hanford It takes a while for all of the new [DOE leaders] people to get confirmed Murray said about 12,000 contract workers are at the Hanford site cleaning up radioactive waste Reeploeg said there are 300 or so federal employees Murray said her concerns about Hanford stem in part from her efforts to help the site get the resources it needs “And number one the safety of the workers and the safety of the people that live around that Taking that in the wrong direction is just frightening.” Related: At least 19 Oregon agriculture researchers fired as part of sweeping federal cuts, OSU says Murray said her office can’t confirm exact numbers on how many DOE employees have been fired people who monitor and respond to urgent safety issues and folks who make sure Hanford workers’ rights are protected after calls and messages both to the local Hanford office and headquarters Murray said she’s hearing from many of the fired workers who say they are afraid to speak publicly for fear of retribution But she said the workers are also worried about safety at the nuclear site “These are people who love our country,” Murray said This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington This republished story is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs Tags: Hanford Site, Nuclear, Trump, Washington Stand with OPB and protect independent journalism for everyone Listen to the OPB News live stream (opens new window)Streaming Now Northwest News Network","longBio":"Anna King is the Richland correspondent for the Northwest News Network from nuclear reactors to Mexican rodeos.She attended Washington State University and spent an additional two years studying language and culture in Italy The South Sound was her girlhood backyard and she knows its rocky beaches She's most at peace on top a Northwest mountain with her husband and their muddy Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee issued the following statement in response to reports that the Trump administration began firing Washington state workers at the Hanford site and the Bonneville Power Administration The Trump administration has ordered mass firings of federal workers who are on their “probationary” period—meaning workers who were hired or promoted within the past 1-2 years the Trump administration began indiscriminately laying off Hanford workers in Washington state as well as hundreds of workers at the Bonneville Power Administration who deliver clean and reliable energy to families across the Pacific Northwest over a dozen people were laid off—including safety engineers people who monitor and respond to urgent safety issues folks who make sure Hanford workers’ rights are protected and others who are absolutely critical to the Hanford cleanup mission and the safety of the workers there These reckless firings will slow down critical cleanup work and make workers less safe—trying to run Hanford with a skeleton crew is a recipe for disaster that could have irreversible impacts An adequate federal workforce is essential for oversight of the work executed by nearly 12,000 contractor workers at the Hanford site and their families across Eastern Washington the Trump administration has also needlessly laid off a handful of employees at PNNL—workers who power cutting-edge research and groundbreaking innovations on everything from energy storage to nuclear security “And I have heard the Bonneville Power Administration will be losing more than 600 highly-skilled workers across the Northwest—this includes everyone from electricians and engineers These are literally the people who help keep the lights on—and now they’re being fired on a whim because Trump and Elon Musk don’t have a clue about what they do and why it’s important They don’t seem to even understand that these are positions funded by ratepayers—by all of us in the Northwest—not from federal funding “The callousness of this administration is breathtaking—these mass layoffs pose a serious threat to our energy security and the health and safety of people across our state not to mention the livelihoods of so many hardworking families who have done nothing wrong and whose work is sorely needed These firings will raise energy costs for Washington ratepayers and jeopardize the reliability of the grid in the Northwest—a genuinely life-or-death concern for millions I will keep doing everything I can to raise the voices of the people harmed by this administration’s indefensible policies and fight back.” Sign up to receive Senator Murray’s newsletter and get updates on the workshe’s doing on behalf of Washington state The Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant is taking computer-based training to the next level by creating virtual walkthroughs of plant facilities Instructional Developer Randy Miller at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant sets up a special 360-degree camera inside a plant warehouse The walkthroughs will allow staff to explore and familiarize themselves with facilities and equipment from their computer screens before beginning fieldwork “The enhanced realism adds valuable context to the training concepts which will help build better understanding of plant facilities A 360-degree camera used to create virtual walkthroughs The training staff creates the walkthroughs using a high-definition They upload these detailed photos into special software that merges them into seamless views allowing users to look around the spaces as if they were physically present in them They then arrange these views into a sequence that guides users through facilities step by step they add narration tailored to each training and facility providing important information and instruction throughout the virtual tour “These will be game changers in readying our team for future operations,” said Chris Musick general manager for Waste Treatment Completion Company the main subcontractor for Bechtel National Inc. “This level of preparation will build our team’s confidence in its abilities and ensure it’s fully equipped to perform safe The US administration of President Donald Trump undertaking staff cuts at federal organisations including the Department of Energy (DOE) and its institutions The cuts are being driven by multiple initiatives including Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and executive orders Senator Patty Murray said DOE has to date laid off 1,800 employees which amounts to approximately 11% of its national workforce Murray is Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair and a member of the Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development The DOE Hanford nuclear site in Washington state now has had almost 50 of its 300 staff members laid off with more cuts expected Hanford is home to 177 underground waste storage tanks – a legacy of nuclear weapons development and nuclear energy research during World War II and Cold War The staff reduction represents about 16% of DOE’s Hanford workforce which was 78% staffed when the layoffs were announced Those leaving federal service include workers picked for layoffs who were still in probationary status (which can last for a year or more after being hired or promoted) and also people who volunteered for layoffs in what the federal government designated “delayed resignations” the DOE Hanford site manager told a Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce that most of those who volunteered after promises of pay through September are retiring from the federal government “I don’t think we are at the end,” he noted referring to plans to move forward with a smaller staff The US Office of Management & Budget and US Office of Personnel Management have told federal agencies to prepare to initiate large-scale reductions in force Agency heads were given a deadline of 13 March to develop reduction-in-force and reorganisation plans The memo said the federal government is “costly inefficient and deeply in debt” and that “tax dollars are being siphoned off to fund unproductive and unnecessary programmes that benefit radical interest groups while hurting hard-working American citizens” The memo offered suggestions such as renegotiating provisions of collective bargaining agreements and eliminating functions not mandated by law as well as firing underperforming employees and reducing staff through attrition It added that no more than one employee should be hired for every four who leave federal jobs At the Hanford site most work is contracted out Hanford previously had about 300 federal employees at the site overseeing cleanup efforts The memo said that agencies should “maximally reduce the use of outside consultants and contractors” Hanford’s DOE workers are responsible for negotiating with regulators to agree on the environmental cleanup work that must be done the standards that must be met and the schedule for completing work They oversee contractor work to ensure that it meets the extensive regulatory requirements set by state and federal governments The memo emphasised that the focus should be on eliminating work that is not legally required “while driving the highest quality most efficient delivery of their statutorily required functions” The environmental cleanup work at the Hanford site currently employees about 13,000 people as an enterprise with multiple private contractors About $70bn has so far been spent on the cleanup effort including to protect the Columbia River that flows through the site with another 60 years of work expected to complete cleanup Vance said the remaining DOE staff will need to refocus on the mission of environmental cleanup at Hanford and that may mean not supporting some projects it has in the past The DOE leadership team will “evaluate critical functions and make sure that we are adjusting our staffing to support those critical functions,” Vance said “And then we’re really going to continue to work with our contractor partners to look for opportunities we can partner even more to mitigate those losses (of federal employees.)” The Hanford site will remain safe and secure The federal team at Hanford needs to be sufficiently staffed to enable the contractor workforce to do their jobs Some of the less radioactive waste in ageing leak-prone underground tanks could be turned into a stable glass this year for permanent disposal Construction on Hanford’s vitrification plant began in 2002 with construction and commissioning almost complete for vitrification of low activity radioactive waste Construction is continuing on the section of the plant intended to treat high level radioactive waste DOE is also ready to start moving 1,936 capsules holding highly radioactive caesium and strontium from underwater storage in a pool in the ageing Waste Encapsulation & Storage Facility to safer dry storage DOE plans to move the first capsule of caesium this year Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the Progressive Media network © Business Trade Media International Limited The Heritage Foundation’s blueprint proposes reclassifying radioactive waste as something less dangerous so it can be disposed of more cheaply Historical hazard warning signs shown at the B Reactor at the Hanford site on Wednesday The B Reactor was the first full-scale plutonium production reactor in the world Will the next presidential administration tinker with the Hanford nuclear reservation’s complicated cleanup of radioactive wastes the Heritage Foundation’s conservative blueprint for the future offers some strong hints that cleanup plans for the nation’s most polluted nuclear site might change with or without the approval of the Washington Department of Ecology One Project 2025 idea recommends reclassifying highly radioactive wastes into something less dangerous so cheaper methods can be used to dispose of them Another proposal is to speed up the cleanup by rerouting money to Hanford from a couple of huge Biden-era appropriations for jobs and infrastructure programs elsewhere The third Hanford-related idea in Project 2025 posits that the state of Washington and the legally negotiated cleanup deadlines and standards are obstacles to completing the cleanup faster.  the Washington Attorney General’s Office and the state Ecology Department all declined to comment on Project 2025’s plans for Hanford Attorney General and Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson and Attorney General-elect Nick Brown recently held a press conference to announce the AG’s office and have spent months reviewing Project 2025 in preparation for possible litigation with the Trump administration Ferguson and Brown said the ball is in the Trump administration’s court on whether it will provoke legal battles with Washington Ferguson — frequently with other attorneys general —  filed several dozen lawsuits against the first Trump administration “No one has a record like that except Perry Mason,” Inslee said at a Nov Arguably the most radioactively and chemically contaminated spot in the Western Hemisphere the Hanford nuclear reservation’s cleanup is governed by a 35-year-old legal agreement called the Tri-Party Agreement Environmental Protection Agency have repeatedly used this contract to force a sometimes foot-dragging U.S Department of Energy to meet its legal standards and schedule to clean up the highly radioactive site Tour guide Terry Andre explains how big the Hanford site is before visitors take a tour of B Reactor in 2022 But Project 2025 says the Washington government poses significant legal and political obstacles to cleaning up Hanford.  Nuclear cleanup is addressed on pages 394-396 Project 2025 continues: “Hanford poses significant political and legal challenges with the State of Washington and DOE will have to work with Congress to make progress in accelerating cleanup at that site DOE and EPA need to work more closely to coordinate their responses to claims made under the TPA and work more aggressively for changes including congressional action if necessary Project 2025 calls on the EPA to be an ally of DOE against the state instead of being an independent regulator.  Washington has been the greatest force to push the federal government to stick to its legal schedules and meet agreed-upon cleanup standards Hanford has had problems over the past three decades with keeping to the schedules and getting its engineering up to snuff to prevent future breakdowns The Project 2025 document does not elaborate on why it believes Washington’s Ecology Department is a hindrance Washington’s congressional delegation has strongly supported the state and the Tri-Party Agreement on Hanford cleanup issues Project 2025 is a detailed master plan put together by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation on how the Trump administration should govern focused on issues like immigration and crime Presidential campaigner Donald Trump claimed he was unfamiliar with it the bulk of Project 2025 was written by former Trump officials and allies CEO of Denver-based fracking company Liberty Energy Wright is a major opponent of fighting climate change Trump's selection for Energy was Rick Perry who had called for abolishing the DOE when he ran for president and was unaware that he would be in charge of cleaning up radioactive nuclear sites when he became energy secretary Trump recently selected former New York congressman Lee Zeldin as the EPA’s head administrator Zeldin boosted cleanup of Long Island Sound and wanted the United States to leave the Paris climate accords But his environmental resume is thin beyond that Visitors listen to guide Rick Bond as they stand before the front face of the plutonium reactor in the Hanford B Reactor in 2022 government set up Hanford in 1943 to create plutonium for the nation’s atomic bombs including those exploded in New Mexico and over Nagasaki in 1945 That development work created many billions of gallons of chemical and radioactive wastes the worst 56 million gallons of which were pumped into 177 underground tanks At least a million gallons of radioactive liquid has leaked into the ground seeping into the aquifer 200 feet below and into the Columbia River DOE and the EPA signed the Tri-Party Agreement to govern Hanford’s cleanup with the state and EPA as the regulators enforcing that contract The agreement has been modified many times It originally called for Hanford to begin converting the underground tank wastes into glass in 2009 and finish by 2019 After several delays due to budget and technical problems glassification is scheduled to begin in August 2025 The glassification project’s budget has grown from $4 billion to $17 billion and is expected to expand to more than $30 billion glassification is supposed to be finished by 2052 although future negotiations may push that back While the tank wastes are Hanford’s biggest program the site has numerous other contamination problems The entire 584-square-mile site is supposed to be cleaned up by 2091 In 2020, DOE, the EPA and the state began four years of secret negotiations to revise the Tri-Party Agreement. Last April, the three parties unveiled tentative revisions The three now are reviewing public comments on those proposed revisions before taking the changes to a federal judge for approval Those changes would not set a new completion date for glassifying the tank wastes, which is likely to be part of another negotiation. Right now, DOE expects glassification to be done by 2069, which is 17 years beyond the current legal deadline, according to a 2021 report by the Government Accountability Office Project 2025 calls for finishing all of Hanford’s cleanup by 2060 It recommends a massive study and remapping of the cleanup of Hanford and other nuclear sites across the nation DOE has done this type of review a few times over the past 30 years usually when a new presidential administration comes on board Hanford’s 56 million gallons of tank wastes consist of highly radioactive wastes and lesser radioactive wastes (dubbed “low-activity wastes”) mixed together in many of the same tanks Hanford’s high-level wastes amount to 5 million to 6 million gallons The Tri-Party Agreement calls for two plants to be built for dealing with low-activity wastes and a third to be built for handling high-level wastes one low-activity waste plant has been built That low-activity waste plant is scheduled to begin glassification in August 2025 A plant to separate high-level wastes from low-activity wastes along with the facility to glassify the high-level wastes are expected to be ready in the 2030s These plans are all part of the current Tri-Party Agreement with the revisions also calling for a newer approach for handling the radioactive waste: turning it into a cement-like substance called grout Grouting is easier and cheaper than glassification but has not been extensively tested with Hanford’s chemically complex tank wastes likely to disposal sites in either Utah or Texas DOE and the state are still figuring out what type of grouting technology to use Part of this agreed-upon new approach would reclassify any high-level wastes in 22 tanks aimed toward grouting into low-activity wastes Project 2025 sees reclassifying high-level wastes into low-activity wastes as a major step toward speeding up cleanup although it does not address whether DOE should be able to reclassify wastes beyond the 22 tanks.   “A central challenge at Hanford is the classification of radioactive waste High-Level Waste (HLW) and Low-Level Waste (LLW) classifications drive the remediation and disposal process significant changes in waste classification from HLW to LLW enabled significant progress on remediation Implementation needs to continue across the complex particularly at Hanford,” the Project 2025 document said.  Still unknown is whether the state — which has been skeptical about widespread use of grout — would go along with grouting high-level wastes beyond those 22 tanks One indication of the Ecology Department’s reluctance is that the high-level waste glassification plant and the waste separation facility have been kept in the proposed Tri-Party Agreement revisions Project 2025 calls for appropriating more money toward Hanford’s cleanup that money would be taken from projects nationwide covered by 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act and 2021’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act The Infrastructure Investment Act provides money for federal highways clean water projects and improving electric grids.  The Inflation Reduction Act covers greatly reduced insulin costs a huge number of climate change-related projects including reducing greenhouse emissions drought-related measures for the western states boosting subsidies for the Affordable Care Act increasing tax enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service We rely on donations from readers like you to sustain Cascade PBS's in-depth reporting on issues crticial to the PNW John Stang is a freelance writer who often covers state government and the environment. He can be reached on email at johnstang_8@hotmail.com and on Twitter at @johnstang_8 As Republican legislators opt for ballot harvesting Democrats lean into town halls in predominantly red districts to engage new or reluctant voters It won’t be long before the Integrated Disposal Facility is ready for its critical role in the mission to treat tank waste through the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) Program at the Hanford Site “Completing activities at IDF is another important step toward the startup of our DFLAW mission to begin treating tank waste a top Hanford Site priority,” said Carmen Rodriguez Hanford Field Office federal project engineer It includes two disposal areas called cells but it can be expanded as needed to six disposal cells the disposal cells are double lined and include a leachate collection system Leachate is contaminated liquid generated from water percolating through waste The system is engineered to collect water from rain Two 400,000-gallon storage tanks at the facility hold the leachate until workers can send it to an onsite facility for treatment to remove contaminants Final assessments are expected by the end of March “Thanks to the IDF team’s hard work and commitment to safety over the past several years we look forward to completing final preparations at the facility to support the DFLAW Program one of Hanford’s most meaningful and historic environmental cleanup projects,” said Paul Branson Workers should deliver the first containers of vitrified waste from WTP to IDF for disposal later this year workers wearing protective clothing and footwear inspect a valve at the “C” tank farm on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland State and federal officials have officially signed off on an agreement changing the legal cleanup schedule at the Hanford nuclear reservation which houses the most radioactively contaminated waste in the Western Hemisphere.  will accelerate the cleanup of the site’s nuclear waste while maintaining safety The project has busted budgets and deadlines in recent decades Last April, after four years of negotiations, the feds and state came to a tentative agreement to a 35-year legal contract governing Hanford’s cleanup which includes how to deal with 56 million gallons of radioactive fluids and sludges in 177 leak-prone underground tanks roughly seven miles from the Columbia River Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology have spent the past eight months seeking public input and tweaking the tentative agreement state and federal officials decided Hanford tank waste should be mixed with glass flakes and melted together so the radioactive substances cannot escape for 10,000 years The original $4 billion glassification plant was supposed to be ready by 2009 and the work completed by 2019 The budget for glassification now is $17 billion and is expected to reach possibly $30 billion Currently, Hanford’s legal target calls for glassifying all wastes by 2052. DOE has internally moved those targets back to 2069,  according to a 2021 report by the Government Accountability Office That date was not reflected in the changed legal agreement but those deadlines could be changed in the future The new agreement keeps the previous timeline of starting to glassify less-radioactive tank wastes this year Work on processing the 5 million to 6 million gallons of high-level wastes the low-level waste glassification plant set to start operating this year can handle only roughly half of the wastes which means a second plant will have to be built The finalized agreement also allows Hanford to use a new technology called grouting — mixing low-level wastes from 22 tanks within a type of cement This technology has not yet been perfected with chemically complicated Hanford tank wastes Other technologies and auxiliary plants are also covered in the new agreement.  This is the best way to ensure surrounding communities and the Columbia River are protected,” said state ecology director Laura Watson in a press release  “This historic agreement … establishes an achievable plan for our Hanford tank waste mission for the next 15 years,” said DOE’s Hanford manager Brian Vance in the same news release traces three generations of Chinese women across time and continents A spread from ‘Feeding Ghosts,’ the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic memoir by Seattle writer/comics illustrator Tessa Hulls Seattle author and artist Tessa Hulls has won a 2025 Pulitzer Prize for her first book Earning the award for best memoir or autobiography personal revelations and comics-style storytelling to paint an emotionally fierce family portrait The Pulitzer Prize committee announced this year’s winners May 5 calling Feeding Ghosts “an affecting work of literary art and discovery whose illustrations bring to life three generations of Chinese women — the author and the experience of trauma handed down with family histories.” was forced by government persecution to flee to Hong Kong in 1949 She brought her daughter Rose (Hulls’ mother) along with her — both hidden in the false bottom of a fishing boat and used the income to send Rose off to boarding school Sun Yi had a mental breakdown and was never the same With drawings that swim between realistic and surreal she knew Sun Yi only as the “broken ghost” of a grandmother who lived with her and her mother In Feeding Ghosts — which took Hulls nearly 10 years to complete — the author/illustrator fleshes out her own intergenerational stories of immigration creative escape and mother/daughter relationships While this is Hulls’ first book, she has been an active member of the Seattle art community for decades, as an artist, writer, illustrator, performer and interviewer, including the time she literally camped out at the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) to capture and illustrate the stories of the various parties involved Feeding Ghosts has received many accolades since its publication including both the Libby Award for Best Graphic Novel and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize as well as being named a “Best Book of the Year” by Time magazine a TSA officer checks a passenger’s identification at a security checkpoint at Sea-Tac International Airport The article originally was published by The Spokesman-Review the federal government will begin enforcing REAL ID requirements to fly domestically starting May 7 – for real this time “Our offices are busier than usual because of the deadline,” said Thomas Charlson a spokesman for the Washington State Department of Licensing “We recommend that people get an appointment if they’re coming to visit us.” Although Washington state is issuing “Enhanced Driver’s Licenses,” Charlson said it’s the same as the REAL ID and will be required to board domestic flights “You can use this to board domestic flights you can use it to enter certain federal facilities and then one of the perks of having an Enhanced Driver’s License is that you can also use it to cross the borders of Canada and Mexico by land or sea,” Charlson said The enhanced license total cost is $116 for five years if you are getting your first Enhanced Driver’s License Or if you are upgrading your current Washington driver’s license to the enhanced version you can pay $7 per year for the time remaining on your current license If travelers do not have a REAL ID or any other TSA-acceptable ID, they will face delays, additional screening and the possibility of not being allowed into the security checkpoint, according to the Transportation Security Administration’s website If you don’t get an Enhanced Driver’s License other ID accepted options can be used for travel a green card and an Employment Authorization Card He said the Washington State Department of Licensing also has an Enhanced Driver’s License checklist in both English and Spanish for travelers to know if they are eligible and what other documents they may need to obtain this enhanced identification “Make sure that you plan ahead,” Charlson said This article originally appeared in the Kitsap Sun Virginia Mason Franciscan Health has entered a “strategic affiliation” with Seattle Children’s Hospital hoping to bring services from the renowned pediatric hospital directly to patients on the Kitsap Peninsula and other areas around Puget Sound.  Virginia Mason Franciscan operates 10 Puget Sound hospitals including two on the Kitsap Peninsula.  neonatal and related specialty services will expand across VMFH Birth Centers Right now, Virginia Mason Franciscan–owned hospitals — which deliver 10% of Washington's births — send 25 vulnerable newborns per day to Seattle Children’s Hospital Many of these families travel to their North Seattle campus or to a clinic in Federal Way Embedding Seattle Children’s physicians across the Virginia Mason Network is expected to reduce those barriers.  “Our goal is to keep every mother and baby together in their home community whenever possible and any kid with a specialty need that otherwise would have to drive up to Seattle home by bringing Seattle Children's doctors down physically or using technology into VMFH sites of care,” said Mark Salierno Children’s senior vice president and chief strategy and business development officer The specifics of how physicians will be deployed at VMFH sites and how many staff could be hired are still being worked out with representatives from both organizations chief strategy officer for Virginia Mason Franciscan who served as chief strategy officer for old Harrison Hospital in Bremerton from 2007 to 2011 said the peninsula has been dealing with limited medical care for a long time and the partnership will bring needed services to the community  “All of this is to help improve the overall health of the community by intervening sooner and bringing a truly world-class children’s hospital to all the members of the peninsula who’ve never had that caliber before,” he said The Kitsap Sun published a longer version of this article on April 30 reporting for the Kitsap Sun and Gig Harbor Now through a program managed by Washington State University The American and Canadian flags fly above the Peace Arch at the U.S./Canada Border in Blaine Canada’s Liberal Party has retained power after Monday’s national election results but it remains to be seen whether the party will have an outright majority in the House of Commons or need to build a minority government.  were a few seats away from an outright majority by Tuesday afternoon but many seats across Canada were still very close as vote counts continued.  Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, lost his seat in the House of Commons, as did New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh.   Carney has been the prime minister of Canada since March 9, two months after the longtime Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned. According to the CBC, Carney and the Liberals came from behind during the course of the 36-day campaign President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats to annex Canada as the 51st State.  Join Cascade PBS and Daybreak Star Radio for a free screening of three episodes of Origins: The Last Reefnetters, a five-part documentary series on the history and culture of reefnet fishing in the Salish Sea followed by a community discussion with Cascade PBS and Daybreak Star Radio journalists.  The event will be held on Sunday, May 4 at 3 p.m. at the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center, 5011 Bernie Whitebear Way in Discovery Park. It will be free and open to the public. RSVP here.  The five-part docuseries follows the final 12 captains to hold a reefnet fishing license of whom only one is an enrolled tribal member The practice was developed by the Lummi Nation and other Northern Straits Salish tribes thousands of years ago environmental damage and devastation caused by a budding cannery industry Indigenous reefnetters were all but removed from the practice spiritual and cultural subtext that intertwines the Salish Sea’s last reefnetters.  Guns for rent at the Bellevue Indoor Gun Range on Monday Gun buyers may soon need a permit and safety training to purchase a firearm in Washington House Bill 1163 is one step away from becoming a law after passing the Legislature on Tuesday who has pushed for gun safety laws in the past Under the proposed policy, which would go into effect May 2027, any resident wishing to purchase a gun would be required to first apply for a permit, then pay a fee and show documentation of having completed a safety training program within five years. The training must include live-fire shooting exercises and a demonstration of safely handling a firearm. The proposal sparked tensions this session between gun safety advocates who said the legislation would reduce the state’s suicide and homicide rates who said it would infringe on Second Amendment rights The bill passed the House and the Senate along party lines said permit-to-purchase programs save lives “They make sure guns don’t get into the hands of the wrong people they make sure that guns aren’t diverted to black markets and they prevent crime,” she said during a floor debate Tuesday calling the bill an unconstitutional “scheme” to test gun owners at their own personal cost “It is no guarantee that one murder will be prevented, that one assault will be prevented, that one suicide will be prevented,” Walsh said. The new system would require the Washington State Patrol to approve permits within 30 days of application or within 60 days for applicants without valid state ID The state could not issue a permit to anyone who has been prohibited from purchasing a firearm under state or federal law awaiting a trial for a felony or with an outstanding warrant security guards and tribal law officers would all be exempt from the training requirement Thirteen other states have laws requiring permits to purchase certain firearms The Legislature’s proposal has garnered support from Attorney General Nick Brown who testified in favor of the policy in a Senate Committee hearing in March we can make meaningful use of the critical time between someone’s choice to purchase a firearm and when they obtain that weapon,” Brown said The permit-to-purchase proposal is the only gun safety bill that has made it through both chambers of the Legislature this session Other policies were proposed to require owners to lock up their guns when in vehicles or homes limit bulk purchases of guns and ammunition and restrict where gun owners can openly carry their weapons This article was originally published by the Washington State Standard Washingtonians’ medical debt will not be included in their credit reports Bob Ferguson signed into law earlier this week.  Medical debt can create a spiraling effect and prevent people from getting approved for car or home loans or apartment rentals Medical debt can also cause providers to deny services to patients with outstanding bills or dissuade people from seeking care.  Senate Bill 5480 intends to mirror efforts at the federal level that have been thrown into question It will prohibit collection agencies from reporting overdue medical debt to credit agencies. The bill will take effect on July 27.  the Biden administration finalized a similar federal rule before President Donald Trump took office but it is currently on pause by the Trump administration and faces legal challenges.  The new state law is intended to help people like Christopher Raymond who was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma at age 16.  To get the treatment Raymond needed to survive his dad was forced to retire and cash out his pension Raymond’s family moved to California so he could receive the treatment he needed which lasted two years and required a stem cell transplant which was not covered by his dad’s insurance he and his family faced extreme hardships and had trouble paying for necessities such as food and utilities.  “There was a point where it got really bad that I was eating those quarter chicken legs you would get from the grocery store and it would be my only meal I could have for the day,” Raymond said.  Raymond is now 28 and has been cancer-free for 10 years but says his family could’ve been pushed into extreme debt for his treatments which cost upward of $6 million before accounting for insurance payments.  “I shouldn’t be punished for having cancer,” Raymond said.  His experience is shared by many who have undergone similar health issues.  people might stop or delay treatments because they can’t afford them or because their insurance companies don’t approve the care also lose everything they own to continue their treatments Roughly six in 10 Washington adults say they could not pay an unexpected $500 medical bill, and about 30% say they live in a household with medical debt, even with health insurance, according to a report done by the Northwest Health Law Advocates government relations director at the American Cancer Society explained that families can still have to pay debt they accrued from treatments if their child dies of cancer they may still need treatment for the rest of their lives and depending on the insurance coverage a person has the care can land them in thousands of dollars’ worth of debt.  “My lifelong care after cancer is always going to be met with more insurance bills,” he said.  He says he’s been due for a CT scan for over six years but is worried about going into debt because he cannot afford the scan even after his co-pay.  “You shouldn’t be punished for having cancer you should get through it and be able to not worry about having to live The Washington State Standard originally published this story on April 22, 2025. Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero is a WSU Murrow News Fellow Meagan Hatcher-Mays and Guy Branum on stage at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival on May 4 The Cascade PBS Ideas Festival returns May 31, with a lineup featuring Jake Tapper, Amanda Knox, and a slate of local and nationally recognized journalists, podcasters and lawmakers deconstructing the day’s most pressing issues. The full lineup of speakers was released today This year’s festival will include live podcast and television recordings from outlets like CNN, NPR and The Atlantic alongside a mix of community events in downtown Seattle. More information is available here Seattle voters will be asked in August if they want to continue paying for the city’s democracy voucher program — a first-of-its-kind public campaign-financing system that gives voters money to donate to political candidates.  Seattle voters created the program in 2015 along with a 10-year property tax levy to fund it The voucher program aims to make election financing more diverse and equitable by giving voters four $25 coupons they can give to city of Seattle candidates during elections.  city officials say the program has been a success the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to send a property tax levy renewal to the August ballot that would fund the program for another decade.  the levy would cost the median homeowner about $13 a year and raise about $45 million over 10 years The figure is about $15 million higher than the expiring levy to account for inflation and increased candidate participation in the program.  City Council members praised the program across the board with several saying they’d seen the positive impact firsthand during their own runs for office.  this specifically meant that I didn’t need to take campaign donations that I felt might have implicit strings attached,” said Councilmember Dan Strauss and it meant that I actively chose to knock on everyday Seattleites’ doors rather than spending time on the phone Many Councilmembers said the program is especially important in light of threats to democracy at the national level and the growing influence of wealth in politics.  “Our democracy is at risk,” said Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck “We must take every step here in Seattle to protect it Most democracy vouchers go unused. A study by researchers at Stony Brook and Georgetown University found that participation among the voting-age population declined from 7.59% in the 2021 election to 4.72% in 2023.  City Council member Cathy Moore noted that there remains a need to educate people about the program particularly in communities where English is not the primary language.  city attorney and three Council seats are eligible for democracy vouchers this year Note: This story was updated on 4/22/25 to correct the difference between the previous property tax levy and the new proposal.  on the first day of the legislative session at the Washington state Capitol in January 2024 The wings off the Senate floor were packed Monday as Washington lawmakers and staff remembered Sen those who had worked with Ramos exchanged hugs A large portrait of Ramos surrounded by fresh flowers stood near the front of the chamber where colleagues honored their colleague with a moment of silence Ramos died Saturday evening while trail-running with his dog said Ramos’ death was “a devastating loss for our caucus and for our state.” “Bill was one of the most kind and joyful people I’ve had the pleasure to work with,” Pedersen said in a statement “He never let even the most serious matters get too serious He made you like him the moment you met him.” Ramos was first elected to represent the Fifth Legislative District in the House of Representatives in 2018 and was recently elected to the state Senate in November He previously served on the Issaquah City Council Bob Ferguson acknowledged the “shocking loss” of Ramos over the weekend Ferguson signed a bill that Ramos had worked on which exempted some Department of Corrections employees from coalition bargaining requirements Ferguson said he would send one of the pens used to sign the law to Perry “He was a wonderful public servant,” Ferguson said We’ll be thinking about him today and for a long time to come.” Ramos’ death came with just one week left in the Legislature’s scheduled session Speaking on a resolution to honor former Secretary of State Ralph Munro noted Monday morning that he was standing in front of Ramos’ desk “I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m a little rattled,” Wagoner said Wagoner went on to reminisce about Munro with comments that he said were “even more poignant today.” and none of us know the time or the date of that happening,” he said 2025A well-known South Valley family is excited to carry on the tradition of a beloved ice cream shop in Hanford.HANFORD (KFSN) -- A well-known South Valley family is excited to carry on the tradition of a beloved ice cream shop in Hanford a real estate agent confirmed with Action News that 'Superior Dairy' in Hanford has been sold for $2.3 million the city confirmed that the Zonneveld Family has purchased the iconic business They had reportedly been interested in acquiring it even before it hit the market in October of last year following the retirement of the previous owner The family says they are excited to share their vision for the future as plans continue to develop The Hanford Field Office and its tank operations contractor recently began retrieving radioactive and chemical waste from another large underground storage tank at the Hanford Site RICHLAND, Wash. — The Hanford Field Office and its tank operations contractor recently began retrieving radioactive and chemical waste from another large Single-shell Tank A-102 is a million-gallon tank that contains about 41,000 gallons of solid waste It is the 23rd tank on the site to have waste retrieved double-shell tanks for continued safe storage until it is treated for disposal “Moving waste from underground tanks is not easy, but Hanford teams continue to build on their extensive experience as they take another significant step in our risk-reduction mission,” said Jim Greene, Hanford program manager for single-shell tank retrievals Hanford is home to 177 underground storage tanks built in groups called tank farms Workers built A-102 and five other million-gallon tanks in the A Tank Farm in the 1950s to store waste from plutonium processing during the Cold War era To prepare for retrieving waste from the tanks workers replaced old equipment and built the infrastructure to remove waste from multiple tanks workers remotely operate equipment to break down the solid waste in Tank A-102 with pressurized water and pump out the waste “We are excited to be starting field operations on another tank,” said Peggy Hamilton “It is a testament to the entire Tank Farms team’s talent hard work and dedication that we are able to safely continue advancing the cleanup mission.” Sitting on 586 square miles of desert in Washington, the Hanford Site has the most radioactive and chemical contamination in America Buried in storage tanks beneath the ground are 56 million gallons of radioactive waste As part of the Manhattan Project Hanford produced the plutonium to build Fat Man the atomic weapon that was detonated above Nagasaki at the end of World War II and for the United States' nuclear arsenal during the Cold War after years of dismissing concerns about contamination the site's management finally said the site needed to be cleaned up But cleaning up nuclear waste is difficult a waste management plant will turn the waste into glass which can be stored away for thousands of years Yet time is of the essence. The longer the contaminated materials are left untreated natural disasters could spread the site's contamination During the Manhattan Project in the mid-1940s, Hanford was one of three main sites where thousands of workers developed and built the world's first atomic bombs The government wanted both secrecy and security and chose an isolated location The government wanted the site to be close to dams for electricity and near the river so it had a source of liquid to cool the reactors The rural setting meant the operation would have to displace fewer people The government purchased the land in 1943 and gave about 2,000 locals, many of them farmers and Indigenous people, 30 days to leave, The New York Times reported later said the government paid far less than the land was worth They understood their work was related to the war effort but the site's role in building a nuclear weapon was top secret There were so many workers that Hanford and nearby Richland swelled with thousands of new residents Hundreds of new buildings went up to accommodate the growing population Some of these places were integrated, while others were segregated. Restaurants in the area barred Black workers from entering, Cascade PBS reported The area stretched along the Columbia River It was the B Reactor that produced the first plutonium in the United States. The first supply of plutonium was delivered to the Army on February 2 just four months after the reactor began operating The physicians working at Hanford reportedly knew radiation could cause illness, and they used dosimetry devices to monitor workers' exposure They would wear badges containing photographic film that would develop an image of the protective case when exposed to radiation the nuclear bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki nearly every truck driver who passed that way had his pet theory," The Spokane Daily Chronicle reported at the time But still the riddle of Hanford remained — and the secret was kept." This time it was to supply the US with a nuclear arsenal during the Cold War The reactors weren't all built at once but over a 20-year period from 1943 to 1963 That's a little less than the weight of 10 African elephants Fat Man contained less than 14 pounds of plutonium according to the Atomic Heritage Foundation The site was responsible for a large part of the 60,000 nuclear weapons the US had made by 1987 In 1954, Life Magazine profiled Hanford employee Homer Moulthorp, who had created plastic suits to combat radiation sickness His friends referred to it as "Homer's Hideous Hallucination." Before that the employees had to wear heavy clothing that had to be buried after being used once contaminated with radioactive strontium-90 Even producing a small batch of plutonium would result in a huge amount of contaminated waste All the lawsuits have since been either dropped or settled and the Washington State Department of Ecology signed the agreement "It was at the end of the Cold War that the site's mission shifted from production of plutonium and that material to environmental cleanup," Ryan Miller a communications manager for the Washington State Department of Ecology There are a host of challenges when it comes to cleaning up Hanford from contaminated buildings and groundwater to leaky storage tanks holding radioactive waste Officials don't even know where all the contaminated material is at least back in the '80s when cleanup started The agencies worked to figure out the scope of the problem but they were hampered by poor record-keeping "There's a kind of shroud of secrecy over the Hanford Site During the production years, workers would dump barrels of waste and contaminated groundwater into unlined trenches The agencies have addressed over 1,350 sites so far Liquid waste is usually contaminated water or sludge which is described as having the same consistency as peanut butter the facilities have treated over 32 billion gallons of groundwater according to Washington's Department of Ecology The first 149 tanks were built with a single layer of steel officials developed a new double-shelled model 68 of the 149 tanks had leaked 900,000 contaminated gallons into the ground the largest kind of cleanup effort being done at the Hanford site and one of the biggest risks," Miller said It was only after a million gallons of waste had leaked into the ground that the DOE said more information was necessary a contractor fired an employee who voiced concerns about the issue "too vigorously." "A lot of those tanks were built in the '40s "So all the tanks are well past their design life." The treatment plant will turn the waste from the deteriorating tanks into glass which can then be stored more safely for several thousand years is expected to begin with some of the low-activity Once the vitrified waste is stored in steel containers workers will dispose of the low-activity glass at a Hanford landfill There's currently no facility in the US capable of storing high-level waste long-term so that too will stay at Hanford for the time being Strontium-90 is also called a "bone seeker" because it acts similarly to calcium — accumulating in bones — while increasing the risk of cancer the DOE decided the capsules needed to be moved the agencies will start transferring them to dry storage Workers removed hazardous materials and demolished supporting infrastructure and facilities nearly 2,000 contaminated buildings covered the Hanford Site The agencies have demolished almost half of them then encased the rest in giant steel structures They will remain like this for at least 75 years until radiation falls to a safe level and workers can dismantle the structures though the method for full disposal isn't yet known One reactor still needs to be cocooned — scheduled to be completed by 2032 — while another will remain standing Chinook salmon breed in stretches of the river in autumn The agencies have found issues with radioactive wasp nests When radioactive rabbit droppings were found in the area, it was protocol to set traps to kill contaminated rabbits, The Seattle Times reported like the ground squirrels and burrowing owls have been declining and specialists aren't sure why health officials said fish tested for radiation posed no health risk Earlier this year, Hanford workers pumped out contaminated water nearby that threatened to leak into the river, according to the Tri-City Herald and Washington's Department of Health reported a rise in plutonium levels in the area Some Hanford workers say they have lung-related illnesses, like COPD or cancer, that they attributed to the time at the site, OPB News reported in 2016 Hanford radiation experts said if it had been a windy day radioactive particles could've blown around and made the situation much worse The DOE's own experts had warned the tunnels might collapse for decades, KING 5 reported in 2017 The EPA said more tunnels would collapse as the equipment deteriorated In 2016, 61 employees were exposed to vapors from leaking tanks two years after a report found a "causal link" between the vapors and lung and brain damage A 2021 Washington State Department of Commerce survey of over 1,000 current and former Hanford workers found that 57% had been exposed to hazardous materials The area is prone to wildfires and possible earthquakes The last big earthquake in the area was in 1936 but another sizable one could release radiation That's what happened with the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Miller said Hanford is on track to start the vitrification process in the summer of 2025 Workers have already started making test glass While the agencies say the deadlines haven't changed the agreement does update the Tri-Party Agreement Some stakeholders, like local tribes and environmental groups, said the agencies didn't include them in the meetings about the new plans, OPB News reported the Government Accountability Office estimated the price to clean up Hanford at between $300 billion and $640 billion The office put the timeline at a vague "decades." President Joe Biden gave Hanford its highest cleanup budget yet Things could change under the next administration During his first term, President Donald Trump proposed cutting Hanford's budget and floated the idea of reclassifying high-level waste as less dangerous to lower costs, per The Los Angeles Times Miller said less funding could ultimately make cleaning up Hanford longer and more expensive "Every year that Hanford cleanup is underfunded that can actually push the ultimate lifespan of the project out further," he said "It could actually balloon the cost by tens of billions of dollars if it's not funded appropriately now." Sources used for this story include the Hanford Site, the Washington State Department of Ecology, the US Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Parks Service, the Atomic Heritage Foundation, the Government Accountability Office, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This story was originally published on September 23, 2019, and updated on December 17, 2024. 2024 9:02 p.m.The Hanford Site in southeastern Washington is pictured in this 2020 photo The nuclear reservation includes 56 million gallons of radioactive waste across 580 square miles the first industrial nuclear reactor went online near Richland on what would become known as the Hanford Nuclear Reservation The plutonium refined at the site as part of World War II’s Manhattan Project fueled the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki and much of the stockpile of nuclear weapons created during the Cold War more than 400 billion gallons of contaminated waste seeped into the earth around Hanford — a fact that was only made public years later due to a culture of secrecy born in wartime Caution signs warn of radioactive materials at the Tank-Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) System process enclosure outside AP Tank Farm on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation The Tank Farm will be used as a staging place for the all the tank waste that will be fed into the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant for vitrification; it will be the last farm cleaned up at the end of the tank farm cleanup mission 177 massive underground tanks collectively hold 56 million gallons of radioactive waste at the Hanford site Plans for how to contain and safely store that waste have been evolving and changing for years “Think Out Loud” toured the Hanford nuclear reservation in September and conducted a series of conversations with Department of Energy officials and others involved in dealing with the toxic waste left from decades of nuclear weapons production the chief operating officer of the DOE contractor in charge of managing the tank farms says the newer tanks are much safer than the ones originally built on the site "Think Out Loud" host Dave Miller interviewing DOE contractor Karthik Subramanian about storing nuclear waste on Hanford’s tank farms “These tanks are about a million gallons in volume And then they are buried with the top of the tank at about a 12 feet level,” Subramanian told us “So they’re buried quite a bit underground And then each of those tanks is completely secondarily contained in another tank.” About one-third of the tanks are known to have leaked The plan is to do that for all 177 of the tanks which were originally designed to last just 20 years A pipe goes from that tank farm Subramanian described to an enormous waste treatment plant which will process the radioactive material Department of Energy announced the first set of clean test glass was successfully poured into a stainless-steel storage container designed to hold vitrified waste at Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant the container showcases the signatures of workers suppliers and stakeholders celebrating the achievement Huge melters will be used to turn liquid waste into solid — but still radioactive — glass weighing more than 15,000 pounds when filled especially for the people who work on-site there’s a lot of layers of procedural compliance to ensure that there is multiple layers of defense against any errors that would have impact,” he said “We have procedures that are meant to support the folks doing the work.” who is in charge of all work at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation for the DOE says the culture of safety at the site goes hand in hand with a new one of transparency which he says is replacing the former culture of secrecy “I think openness and transparency are two of the things that I’m most proud of that we’ve spent considerable amount of time investing in the national community as well,” said Vance “But we also want to own when we have less than successful outcomes we announced a small leak from Tank T-101 and the T-Farm … My determination was from a conservative perspective we’re going to call it a leaking tank and we’re going to communicate right away.” The nonprofit group Hanford Challenge has been focused full-time on monitoring the government processes and communication about the cleanup since it was formed 17 years ago by long-time accountability advocate Tom Carpenter The group was among those that submitted public comments on the latest cleanup agreement announced by the state of Washington and federal agencies including the U.S appears in this undated photo provided by the organization Miya Burke, program manager for Hanford Challenge agrees there is more openness at the DOE now but her group has been contending with the culture of secrecy since its inception the Department of Energy was born out of the Manhattan Project out of the Atomic Energy Commission,” Burke said “And when you’re born out of the culture of secrecy and your identity is tied to secrecy I think it’s really hard to let that go and move away from that culture of hiding Burke says she has “mixed feelings” about the new agreement which were secret – they did not share any information with stakeholders the public or the Tribes for four years,” she said “We were happy to finally hear what the settlement agreement was but it still feels like kicking the can down the road ... And it feels like it’s a delay on top of many One of the biggest safety concerns Hanford Challenge has involved an alternative to vitrification known as grouting — essentially immobilizing waste in concrete “[T]hey’re considering shipping tens of millions of gallons of tank waste off-site and grouting it,” she said “So we’re really concerned around that proposal We don’t know if the waste is going to be shipped as a liquid or as a solid grouted form Vance said previous testing of grout indicates that it is safe But he said before any decisions are made about the larger volumes of waste they’re conducting another pilot called the Test Bed Initiative on a smaller amount “We’re going to treat the tank waste,” he said “to remove the majority of the radiological content The 2,000 gallons will be placed in Department of Transportation-approved containers with really very benign chemical constituent and almost no radiological content And the plan is to transport it via truck to locations in Texas and Utah to demonstrate the capability to do that safely.” Burke says Hanford Challenge and other environmental watchdogs have grave concerns about containing this kind of waste in concrete rather than glass “There was a grout program at Hanford in the 80s and it was shuttered in 1993 It was due to issues with successfully grouting the Hanford’s tank waste A lot of the studies will look at other sites — Savannah River and other sites — that have successfully grouted tank waste It has a really varied complex chemistry.” And Burke says that complexity necessitates a different approach The public comment period on the agreement that federal and state agencies came to this year, known as the Holistic Agreement Vance says managers will use that feedback to inform the decision about whether to grout at Hanford or transport liquid waste to Texas and Utah for grouting To listen to the full interview with Miya Burke of Hanford Challenge 00:00 / 19:53To hear the audio of our visit to the Tank Farm at Hanford, and the interviews with DOE contractor Karthik Subramanian and Brian Vance Tags: Think Out Loud, Hanford, Nuclear Waste, Environment, Pollution Stand with OPB and protect independent journalism for everyone. The South Sound was her girlhood backyard and she knows its rocky beaches, mountain trails and cities well. Anna enjoys trail running, clam digging, hiking and wine tasting with friends. She's most at peace on top a Northwest mountain with her husband and their muddy, Aussie dog. Allison Frost is the senior producer and occasional host of Oregon Public Broadcasting's daily talk show \"Think Out Loud.\" She’s happiest telling solutions journalism stories and talking to interesting people in the Pacific Northwest who are up to stuff — especially those contributing to a healthy and vibrant civil society. Allison’s past OPB lives included stints as announcer, web producer, local magazine host and managing editor. Before OPB, she served as executive director of community radio station KFCF in Fresno, California, anchored “All Things Considered” at Cap Radio in Sacramento, and taught English as a second language. Allison holds a degree in speech communication from California State University, Fresno, and a masters in journalism and communication from the University of Oregon. Anna King is the Richland, Washington, correspondent for the Northwest News Network, covering the Mid–Columbia region, from nuclear reactors to Mexican rodeos.She attended Washington State University and spent an additional two years studying language and culture in Italy. 2024 2 p.m.The Heritage Foundation’s blueprint proposes reclassifying radioactive waste as something less dangerous so it can be disposed of more cheaply.Will the next presidential administration tinker with the Hanford nuclear reservation’s complicated cleanup of radioactive wastes Historical hazardous signs shown at the B Reactor at the Hanford site on Wednesday The third Hanford-related idea in Project 2025 posits that the state of Washington and the legally negotiated cleanup deadlines and standards are obstacles to completing the cleanup faster Ferguson — frequently with other attorneys general — filed several dozen lawsuits against the first Trump administration The Hanford site is 586 square miles in area Trump’s selection for Energy was Rick Perry Those changes would not set a new completion date for glassifying the tank wastes, which is likely to be part of another negotiation. Right now, DOE expects glassification to be done by 2069, which is 17 years beyond the current legal deadline, according to a 2021 report by the Government Accountability Office. although it does not address whether DOE should be able to reclassify wastes beyond the 22 tanks particularly at Hanford,” the Project 2025 document said clean water projects and improving electric grids ahuge number of climate change-related projects including reducing greenhouse emissions Visit cascadepbs.org/donate to support nonprofit This republished story is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page Tags: Hanford, Hanford Site, Pollution, Environment, Politics, Nuclear the Hanford area launched a test of a 'new' procedure of separating lower-level waste from higher level  According to the Department of Energy, the Test Bed Initiative Phase II involved the treating of 2,000 gallons of tank waste It was 'filtered,' removing larger pieces of undissolved higher-radiation-level waste The waste was then shipped off to a storage site and now Hanford and DOE Officials say the test began with a three-gallon experiment This successful test shows larger amounts of lower-level liquid can be separated and treated rather than the more expensive method of vitrification or glassifying the waste in the VIT Plant The glassification would still be needed for the higher-level and solid waste but it's believed hundreds of thousands of gallons of lower level contaminants can be grouted which would save potentially billions of dollars and help empty out the 167 waste storage tanks at Hanford Treating the liquid waste would make things go noticeably faster The grouted waste is then shipped off to storage facilities in Utah and Texas READ MORE:  Other big Hanford News from the last year. Being able to grout a lot of lower level waste could speed up cleanup process.\nRead More  According to the Department of Energy, the Test Bed Initiative Phase II involved the treating of 2,000 gallons of tank waste READ MORE:  Other big Hanford News from the last year. On Aug. 18, 1920, The San Francisco Call summed up the spirit of the Nineteenth Amendment with a single headline More than 40 years after it was introduced in 1878 the amendment granted women's suffrage in one of the most significant expansions of the voting franchise in American history Your access to this service has been limited If you think you have been blocked in error contact the owner of this site for assistance If you are a WordPress user with administrative privileges on this site please enter your email address in the box below and click "Send" You will then receive an email that helps you regain access Wordfence is a security plugin installed on over 5 million WordPress sites The owner of this site is using Wordfence to manage access to their site You can also read the documentation to learn about Wordfence's blocking tools or visit wordfence.com to learn more about Wordfence Click here to learn more: Documentation 6 May 2025 3:21:45 GMT.Your computer's time: document.write(new Date().toUTCString()); Traffic crowds Highway 240 nearly every morning outside the Hanford Site’s sprawling This site churned out plutonium for nuclear weapons during WWII and the Cold War it generates power and houses scientific research but it’s best known as a vast cleanup site for radioactive waste Hanford is one of the thorniest environmental problems in Washington state and one of the nation’s largest superfund sites It’s a political hot potato that’s been passed among presidential administrations Donald Trump took office for a second time Monday, and his team may already have its sights on Hanford. A more than 900-page document known as Project 2025, seen as a conservative policy roadmap for the new president mentions Washington state by name exactly once – when it starts talking about Hanford on page 395 Project 2025 recommends a more aggressive cleanup aiming to finish the entire Hanford Site by 2060 People like Nikolas Peterson, who closely track this slow-moving environmental disaster say Project 2025’s ambitions for the site are unrealistic “Project 2025 really just represents a huge distraction to the legitimate cleanup going on at Hanford,” Peterson said Making changes at Hanford has always been difficult And there are some big changes proposed in Project 2025 like choosing cheaper and faster methods for stabilizing some of the waste Those near Hanford who want a faster cleanup don’t see many options either “We don’t want to just send this [waste] somewhere where it’s going to contaminate somebody else’s land or area or territories,” said Brian Saluskin, a tribal council member for the Yakama Nation whose ancestors lived on and owned the land that Hanford now occupies The cleanup already costs lots of money – $2 billion to $3 billion every year Project 2025 does call for more federal funding Despite the plans laid out in Project 2025, Trump has distanced himself from the document. It's possible that Trump might even go in the opposite direction and cut funds instead. He proposed cuts to the site last time he was in office "The very first battle I had with the Trump administration previously was that they proposed hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to Hanford's cleanup budget," said Washington Sen Presidents often eyeball Hanford for savings "Every new administration comes in and sees Hanford and says do all this stuff’ without understanding it," Murray said Murray sees an even greater threat now that Republicans control Congress and the White House especially since cutting spending has been a hallmark refrain of Trump’s return Hanford experts say cutting cleanup funding is the worst-case scenario which co-manages Hanford cleanup with two federal agencies wouldn’t weigh in on the new administration’s possible plans The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the energy department The three agencies recently struck a new deal on how to retrieve and clean up radioactive tank waste at Hanford until at least 2040 another proposal included in Project 2025 suggests the new administration should revisit the cleanup’s “regulatory framework.” “Hanford poses significant political and legal challenges with the State of Washington,” the document reads “[The Department of Energy] will have to work with Congress to make progress in accelerating cleanup at that site.” The Trump administration did not respond to a request for clarification on how it might actually approach Hanford Murray’s message for the incoming Trump administration is simple Jeanie Lindsay is a radio reporter based in Olympia who covers the state government beat for KUOW and KNKX nonprofit news organization that produces award-winning journalism When it comes to tank waste at Hanford in southeast Washington cleanup has taken longer and cost more than most people ever expected Now, Washington state and two federal agencies have finalized a deal on how to clean up the radioactive tank waste The agreement will keep the schedule to vitrify the low and high level waste Vitrification means binding up the waste with glass so it can’t move or leak into the environment for thousands of years and the high-level portion of that will be stored in a deep geologic repository the 56-million-gallons of radioactive sludge will start to be treated this year and high level waste will start being treated by 2033 The agreement also calls for waste to be retrieved from 22 tanks by 2040 The bulk of it will be grouted and disposed of away from Hanford Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency have signed on to the new pact with the state Department of Ecology and an expert on the Hanford waste treatment said the most exciting thing about the deal is the planned renovation of the high-level treatment plant “… And all of that means that you’ll get more of that waste treated sooner and in final disposal locations sooner with this agreement,” Dahl said The Hanford site became this massive cleanup mess from being the workhorse of World War II and the Cold War – producing and refining more than 74 tons of plutonium for bombs Hanford is one of the most contaminated nuclear sites in the world Producing that plutonium left a legacy of about 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemically hazardous waste stored in 177 aging underground tanks said in a news release that the deal “… establishes an achievable plan for our Hanford tank waste mission for the next 15 years DOE also appreciates the time and effort that the public stakeholders and Tribes took to review and provide comments on the agreement.” the federal Energy department also committed to not apply its interpretation of what “high-level waste” is when disposing of treated waste or closing tank systems at Hanford It means that Energy intends to use other existing mechanisms for reclassifying waste at Hanford Hanford watchdogs and Ecology were concerned that the federal government might have reclassified tank waste differently with the high-level waste definition the federal government is using at sites like Savannah River “Cleaning up Hanford’s tank waste is critical for Washington state we’ve created a durable framework that will accelerate work while maintaining safety the director of the Washington Department of Ecology This is the best way to ensure surrounding communities and the Columbia River are protected.” Home » Events » Beyond Salem » Mike Hanford View Website Mike stars alongside his Sloppy Boys bandmates Tim Kalpakis and Jefferson Dutton in the feature-length documentary BLOOD about the making of the Sloppy Boys’ latest album with legendary producer and musician Money Mark Mike has written for THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON and he co-created and starred in the critically acclaimed series THE BIRTHDAY BOYS which ran for two seasons on IFC and was executive produced by Bob Odenkirk you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Destination Salem You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the unsubscribe link Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company recently completed comprehensive testing of new components at the Hanford Site’s Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility RICHLAND, Wash. — Workers with U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) recently completed comprehensive testing of new components at the Hanford Site’s Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility (WESF) The monthslong testing program aimed to ensure that engineers installed and operated the parts as designed and that they worked as an integrated system to successfully transfer nearly 2,000 radioactive capsules from the facility’s underwater basin to a dry-storage area “Completing the process is a big step for this critical project,” said Gary Pyles, Hanford Field Office federal project director “While we still need to conduct readiness reviews and assessments in the coming months the project is on track to begin transferring capsules as soon as next fall.” Last spring, crews assembled a cask storage system to hold the capsules when they are moved to the dry-storage area About one-third of the Hanford Site's radioactivity is contained in the capsules “We’ve come a long way on this project in the past few years thanks to a hardworking team that routinely demonstrates innovative thinking problem-solving skills and a commitment to safety,” said Neal Sullivan “We’re excited for and confident that we’ll continue to meet our challenges over the next year and deliver on a project that ranks high on the Hanford cleanup priority list.” cesium and strontium recovered from Hanford’s waste storage tanks were placed in stainless steel capsules and stored under 13 feet of water in WESF The water provides shielding from radiation and keeps the capsules from overheating Moving the capsules to dry storage not only eliminates a longer-term risk of a radioactive release in the unlikely event of a loss of basin water but also enables the deactivation of the aging WESF facility saving as much as $6 million in annual operating costs The Hanford Site is a step closer to immobilizing radioactive liquid tank waste in glass for safe disposal RICHLAND, Wash. — The Hanford Site is a step closer to immobilizing radioactive liquid tank waste in glass for safe disposal The Hanford Field Office and tank operations contractor Washington River Protection Solutions recently completed the second waste processing campaign through the Tank-Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) System TSCR is a demonstration project that removes radioactive cesium and solids from tank waste and delivers the waste to a nearby underground storage tank. More than 830,000 gallons of TSCR-treated waste are now staged and ready to be sent to Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant for treatment later this year “The TSCR System is accomplishing its mission as the first step in treating Hanford’s tank waste,” said Bibek Tamang “We’re making great progress toward the start of plant operations in 2025.” Hanford Site workers remove a sample of waste from a large underground tank for testing to ensure it meets the criteria for sending it to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant later this year The next campaign is scheduled to begin this summer it will bring the amount of waste available to feed to the treatment plant to more than 1 million gallons “During the two years we have been operating TSCR we have reinforced our ability to run safely efficiently and effectively,” said Wes Bryan “We’ve advanced operations to treat tank waste and will be ready for 24/7 operations when the plant starts treating tank waste.” Sometimes major cleanup projects require some — Sometimes major cleanup projects require some A crew with Hanford Field Office contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company is removing equipment and materials left from completing a high-profile project last summer at the former K West Reactor The project to drain nearly 1 million gallons of radioactive water from the reactor’s spent-fuel basin and stabilize the basin with grout was a significant achievement in Hanford’s mission to reduce risk along the nearby Columbia River The work is part of a Comprehensive Environmental Response the team disconnected 25 hoses that moved wastewater from the basin through a filtration system They range from 10 to 40 feet long and are connected by stainless steel fittings Workers used absorbent materials to catch any contaminated water during disconnection “This work is important for ensuring a safe environment for future demolition activities, including eventual removal of the basin,” said Scott Green, a deputy assistant manager with the Hanford Field Office With the hoses disconnected, the team is now removing filters, pumps, valves and debris for disposal at Hanford’s Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility Crews expect to complete the project this spring “We’re taking a careful approach to help ensure worker safety,” said Dane Idler The K West and East reactors were part of Hanford’s plutonium production Their basins stored spent fuel temporarily before it was moved for plutonium extraction Heavy police presence on North Maroa and E Fedora Avenue (FOX26) — A bittersweet goodbye after 95 years the Superior Dairy ice cream shop in Hanford has been sold Superior Dairy was located in the center of Hanford on East 9th Street and North Douty Street It was known for its large portions of ice cream The new owner has not said if they will remain in the ice cream business or use the space for something new [RELATED] Playland amusement park closes after 70 years, leaving memories for Fresno families Retrieved waste from Hanford’s 21st single-shell tank Workers are now starting retrieval activities in the next single-shell tank farm where to date 325,000 gallons of waste has been transferred to a double-shell tank  The Tank-Side Cesium Removal System continued treating tank waste with approximately 831,000 gallons currently staged and ready for immobilization at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant supporting the goal of immobilizing tank waste in glass starting in 2025 Right Caption: A glance inside the Central Plateau Water Treatment Facility shows construction progress Demonstrating its commitment to environmental safety Hanford workers completed dewatering the K West Reactor Basin removing and processing more than 1.2 million gallons of contaminated water significantly reducing risks to the nearby Columbia River marking major progress in the river corridor cleanup effort The site also made significant strides in groundwater treatment processing more than 2 billion gallons for the 10th consecutive year further protecting the region’s ecosystem and water sources Since the mid-1990s more than 34 billion gallons of groundwater have been treated Critical infrastructure upgrades have been a focal point in maintaining Hanford’s operational efficiency and safety A new electrical transmission line—a joint project with the Bonneville Power Administration—is on track to be energized in May 2025 This upgrade enables a reliable power supply to the site for decades to come Another major improvement is the construction of a new water treatment plant the plant will supply 3.5 million gallons of potable water per day with the capacity to expand to 5 million gallons per day This will support operations for tank waste treatment and immobilization and provide treated water to Hanford’s Central Plateau.  The Hanford Field Office consolidated operations once performed by two separate DOE organizations workforce development and cleanup operations 2025 promises to be another year of accomplishments as Hanford achieves successes decades in the making Hanford 2024 Year in Review Hanford 2023 Year in Review Hanford 2022 Year in Review Hanford 2021 Year in Review