A recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy notes that the costs and time needed to clean up the Hanford site’s nuclear legacy continue to grow. 

DOE is required to publish its Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule, And Cost Report every three years as part of the Tri-Party Agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Ecology.  

The report released April 15 estimates it will cost between $364 billion to $589.4 billion to fully complete the cleanup and take until fiscal year 2086, with long-term stewardship stretching until 2100, though that won’t be the end. 

“The federal government plans to have a presence at the Hanford site well beyond FY 2100,” the report’s executive summary states. 

The latest estimates put the lower range of cleanup costs $72 billion above what was estimated in 2022. However, the high-range estimate is roughly $44 billion less than what was estimated in the last report. Active cleanup will take eight years longer than last estimated. 

About $65 billion has been spent on the cleanup effort to date. That funding has paid for thousands of workers to empty storage tanks, address contamination in the soil and water and build facilities necessary to eventually treat, vitrify and store the waste at the site or transport it to other locations. 

DOE is now collecting public input on the report until June 16, which will be considered when the next Lifecycle Report is released in 2028.

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