Why It Matters
The proposed budget reductions threaten cleanup schedules at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site, located just across the border from Idaho in southeastern Washington. Hanford sits along the Columbia River, which forms part of Idaho’s western border and flows through the Pacific Northwest region.
Delays to the cleanup could extend the timeline for addressing 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored in aging underground tanks, some located just 7 miles from the Columbia River.
What Happened
House Republicans unveiled a budget proposal that would cut Hanford’s nuclear cleanup funding to $2.77 billion for fiscal year 2027. The Trump administration had already proposed reducing the site’s nearly $3.3 billion budget by roughly $400 million. The House plan adds another $55 million in cuts beyond the administration’s request.
The Republican-controlled Senate has not yet released its budget proposal. The combined reductions would substantially curtail work at the former plutonium production site, which operated during World War II and the Cold War.
Casey Sixkiller, director of Washington’s ecology department, criticized the cuts as unjustified and said they would delay critical progress at the complex cleanup site.
By the Numbers
$3.3 billion: Hanford’s current fiscal 2026 budget
$455 million: Total proposed cuts between Trump administration and House Republicans
177 tanks: Number of leak-prone underground storage containers holding radioactive waste
7 miles: Distance from nearest waste tank to the Columbia River
2052: Current legal deadline for completing waste glassification, though internal DOE targets have pushed this to 2069
Zoom Out
The proposed cuts appear driven by the Trump administration’s push to increase defense spending from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion annually, with the war against Iran cited as a major factor. The cleanup reductions would affect multiple projects across the site, including tank maintenance and a glassification plant that converts radioactive waste into glass for permanent burial.
Roughly $228 million of the proposed reductions would come from maintaining the underground tanks and the waste conversion process. Other cuts target cleanup of the 324 Building, a contaminated laboratory structure sitting above a radioactive plume less than 1,000 feet from the Columbia River.
The glassification project has grown from an original 2002 budget of $4 billion to roughly $30 billion. The first low-activity waste plant, which began operations in October and deposited its first treated waste cylinder in April, cost slightly more than $9 billion.
What’s Next
The Senate must release its budget proposal before final appropriations are determined. Washington state officials say they will continue working with the state’s congressional delegation to secure full funding for cleanup operations.
Hanford’s cleanup operates under a 35-year-old legal agreement among the Department of Energy, the EPA, and Washington’s ecology department, meaning cleanup schedules and standards are legally binding. The site is working to glassify all waste by 2052 under current legal targets, though internal government estimates now project completion in 2069.
About the Author
