Hanford $2.3 Billion Spending Bill Pushes for Cheaper Nuclear Waste Treatment

摘要

The U.S. House of Representatives is proposing spending more money next fiscal year at Hanford than requested by the Trump administration, including paying for a tank waste demonstration project. Supporters of a proposal to encapsulate some waste in concrete-like grout rather than treating it at the site's vitrification plant could save billions of dollars. The House Appropriations Committee voted to send a spending proposal to the full House that includes $2.3 billion for the Hanford nuclear reservation in fiscal 2019. Money for safeguards and security will be added to that total. It is nearly $247 million more than the administration's request to Congress in February, according to information from the staff of Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash. Spending would be lower than the current Hanford nuclear reservation budget. In March, the U.S. House and Senate approved a spending bill for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1, 2017, of about $2.4 billion. The administration's request for fiscal 2019 included increases at some Department of Energy environmental cleanup sites. But the increases were at the expense of important cleanup activities at Hanford, the Idaho site and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the House bill report said.