This story was originally published on mynorthwest.com.
The Trump administration proposed a $400 million cut to the Hanford nuclear site budget, drawing the ire of several Washington representatives, including Senator Patty Murray.
The Hanford Site, located in Benton County, produced plutonium for nuclear weapons from WWII through the Cold War. It shut down in 1987 and is now considered the largest and most complex radioactive cleanup site in the U.S., according to The Columbia Riverkeeper. The site contains millions of gallons of hazardous waste stored in underground tanks, with contamination leaking into the surrounding environment and threatening the Columbia River.
In 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Washington reached an agreement to plan the cleanup of radioactive waste from the Hanford nuclear waste facility after nearly three years of negotiations. In this agreement, the Biden administration agreed on a $3.3 billion budget for the Hanford site, including cleanup efforts.
Cleanup efforts involve a process known as “vitrification,” which turns the waste into a more stable glass form.
Now, the Trump administration is recommending slashing $394-$404 million, including $228 million from the tank waste program – the environmental cleanup program under the Hanford Office of River Protection, according to The Spokesman Review.
“Hanford is the largest nuclear cleanup site in our country, and it is not only dangerous, but costs more in the long run to cut corners on nuclear waste cleanup,” Murray said in a statement. “Trump’s proposed budget is a slap in the face to the Tri-Cities, threatening the Hanford cleanup mission and the community with this absurd budget request.”
Murray additionally called the Trump administration’s budget request “completely unacceptable.”
The budget cuts would additionally delay the environmental cleanup work, according to DOE documents obtained by The Spokesman Review. It would place a temporary hold on the demolition of buildings and the cleanup of waste sites at the K West Reactor and delay the deactivation of the Hanford 324 building. Replacing a 1.1-million-gallon potable water tank in central Hanford would also face delays.
“The federal government has a moral and legal obligation here,” Murray said. “And as long as I help lead the appropriations committee, Congress is going to meet that obligation.”
WA braces for legal battle with Trump Administration over delaying of Hanford cleanup
In 2025, Governor Bob Ferguson threatened legal action if plans to clean up the Hanford Nuclear Reservation were put on hold or canceled completely.
“If the Department of Energy moves away from starting up the waste treatment plant, it would be a stunning waste of resources, a violation of multiple legal agreements, and in some ways most importantly, a slap in the face of workers who have spent decades at that location,” Ferguson said.
The U.S. government is obligated, under a federal court order, to treat 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored in Hanford’s underground tanks.
He said if the federal government delays the cleanup work, Washington will take legal action.
“There is zero chance we are backing down on this. I want to be crystal clear to everybody about this,” Ferguson said. “There is zero chance that we are going to lose. This is going to go forward. That is going to happen, whatever that takes.”
Ferguson and other community leaders have stated they’re concerned about any potential changes to the federal cleanup timeline. Ferguson said his battles to enforce cleanup at Hanford date back to his days as an assistant attorney general in Washington, when he worked on legal action against the Obama Administration.
“It’s not about who occupies the White House,” Ferguson said. “What it is, is about the federal government, each and every time we’ve had to go to court, upholding its obligations and its responsibilities and its promises to the people of this community, to the people of this state, and to the workers.”
©2026 Cox Media Group
