Tri-City residents continue to reap the benefits from continued cleanup work at the Hanford site years after plutonium production ceased. Hanford spending supports about two jobs for every employee hired with federal dollars. “The whole community benefits substantially, regardless of whether you’re a car dealership in Pasco, a restaurant in West Richland, or a real…

Hanford is one of this country’s greatest public works projects, both during a national security mission that lasted for more than four decades in the last century and during its current cleanup mission. Just as our Hanford workforce overcame challenges to deliver for our nation in the past, we are proudly delivering safe, efficient and…

In the spring, Tri-City community members with science backgrounds are called upon to help judge science fairs, teach at Salmon Summit and educate the public at the Hanford Health and Safety Expo. Our Nuclear Waste Program, one of the agencies overseeing Hanford cleanup, usually supports those events in force. Not this year, of course. The…

Industrial developers will get a shot at buying sites 200 acres and larger in north Richland as soon as next year. It’s been five years since the U.S. Department of Energy transferred 1,600-plus acres from the Hanford reservation to Tri-City control for eventual development. It’s been four years since most of it came under the…

The vit plant entered this new decade looking different than ever before. And we are well positioned for another transformational year in 2020. We are driving toward spring 2021 when we will heat up the first of two melters inside the Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility at Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). We are…

Now in our 12th year as Hanford’s tank operations contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) is honored and proud of the legacy it has built in advancing the nation’s largest and most complex environmental cleanup mission. On behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, WRPS has protected the environment and the public by safely managing…

Editor’s note: The General Accounting Office rejected a bid protest related to the Hanford Mission Essential Services Contract on April 22. This story has been updated to reflect the development. The status  of  a  handful  of  the  major  contracts  remains  up  in  the  air  at  the  Hanford site, the U.S. Department of Energy’s most challenging…

Hanford’s major contractors continue to make significant achievements at the site, including demolitions, new construction and wastewater treatment as part of ongoing cleanup efforts. A major accomplishment was celebrated in winter 2020 with the demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant’s main processing facility, a result of work by CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC). The…

Our team at CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC) recently marked a historic accomplishment in Hanford’s cleanup mission with the safe completion of demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant’s main processing facility. The removal of this iconic building – once so critical to Hanford’s production mission – forever changes the landscape at Hanford and reduces…

The first and only leader of the Hanford Communities group plans to retire in May 2020, ending 25 years of support and advocacy on behalf of those who live in the shadow of the Hanford site and its long-running cleanup efforts. It’s a role Pamela Larsen didn’t expect to fill, let alone serve in for…