Thousands of Tri-Cities workers at the Hanford nuclear site and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are watching a federal budget process that could determine whether a second consecutive year of deep job cuts can be avoided.

U.S. Department of Energy officials have said plans to treat a portion of the 55 million gallons of underground tank waste at Hanford via a process different than stabilizing it in a glass form will cost between $480 million and $1.1 billion – and that does not include related costs. 

With the help of artificial intelligence, research from scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland could help optimize the vitrification of nuclear waste at Hanford and other nuclear sites.

Federal lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Washington, passed a proposal to fund many U.S. Department of Energy projects out of committee on Wednesday, and the bill has bad news and good news for the thousands of Tri-City workers at the Hanford site and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Findings by the U.S. Government Accountability Office warns that the U.S. Department of Energy may struggle to maintain safe operations at its cleanup sites around the country after losing hundreds of staff members and struggle to fill those roles. 

Officials with the U.S. Department of Energy and Bechtel National, the firm that designed the Waste Treatment Plant, lauded the accomplishment, saying it reflects momentum in the cleanup effort and progress toward the next chapter for the Hanford site. 

One of the leaders of the citizen-led group that advises the U.S. Department of Energy on the Hanford site cleanup recently warned it is on the cusp of being unable to function due to federal authorities’ delay in confirming its membership.

The Trump administration’s proposed cuts to Hanford cleanup funding is drawing backlash from Washington officials, unions and watchdog groups, despite DOE assurances that critical work will continue uninterrupted.

A new jobs website aggregates job postings from every prime Hanford site contractor and other energy-adjacent employers such as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Energy Northwest and Framatome.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy recently awarded a $1.4 million grant to WSU to develop a Reactor Ready Training Program to address workforce gaps in the nuclear industry.