In Senate Floor Speech, Cantwell Takes DOE Secretary To Task Over Wavering Hanford Cleanup Commitment

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Last night, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), senior member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, delivered a speech on the Senate floor taking U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright to task forwalking backthe commitment he made – reiteratedas recently as Tuesday– to move forward with the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant scheduled to begin operations next month.
The plant has been under construction for 23 years and cost approximately $24 billion. The work scheduled to begin on Oct. 15 would employ around 3,000 people at the site.
“Our current Energy Secretary, if he's thinking about ignoring these commitments to science or the Tri-Party Agreement -- he needs to rethink that,”Sen. Cantwell said.“I know that we must continue our obligations at the facility. I know that we can't walk away from this commitment. I know that the vitrification process has been proven scientifically, and unless there is a problem at this plant, we need to move forward with the production that people have been counting on for years.”
Sen. Cantwell also pointed out the long history of past administrations trying and failing to cut corners on Hanford nuclear waste cleanup.
“Every time a new administration comes in, somebody looks at the amount of money that it takes to clean up nuclear waste that's been stored in tanks, and says, ‘this costs too much. We ought to be able to do it cheaper.’ So I would say to our current colleagues over at the Department of Energy, you need to look at history and think twice,”she said.
Video of Sen. Cantwell’s speech isHERE; a transcript isHERE. In the middle of her speech, DOE released another statement indicating their intent to move forward with plans to open the Waste Treatment Plant on Oct. 15 “despite reports to the contrary.”
Earlier this week, DOE announced the firing of Roger Jarrell, principal deputy assistant secretary of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management and the main overseer of the Hanford nuclear site in the Tri-Cities. At the time,reporting in POLITICOindicated that the firing was linked to Wright wanting to go in a “different direction” to clean up Hanford, attributed to a person with knowledge of the event because they’re not authorized to speak to press. The person went on to say they believe DOE wants to cut the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant Project – a plant slated to open on Oct. 15 after more than two decades of construction.
Following that news, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)announcedthat she’d spoken to Wright and found out he intends to stall on beginning hot commissioning at the Waste Treatment Plant, a decision Sen. Murray called “astonishingly senseless.”
Sen. Cantwell has repeatedly pushed Wright to uphold the Tri-Party Agreement and commit to cleaning up Hanford nuclear waste under the existing legal framework. Earlier this year, shevoted againstadvancing his confirmation as DOE Secretary as a result of hishesitation.
Video of Sen. Cantwell pressing Wright on whether he’d commit to Hanford cleanup isHERE; video of her announcing her opposition to his nomination as DOE Secretary isHERE.
READ MORE:
The Tri-City Herald – New Energy Secretary’s Commitment to Hanford Cleanup Questioned by Sen. Cantwell
The Tri-Party Agreement spells out how the State of Washington, the DOE, and the Environmental Protection Agency must cooperate to ensure that cleanup of the radioactive nuclear waste at Hanford remains in compliance with federal law.
Sen. Cantwell has long championed Hanford cleanup and played a leading role in overseeing the DOE’s cleanup efforts, fighting numerous Administration proposals to cut Hanford budgets.
Throughout the first Trump administration, Sen. Cantwellrepeatedly led the chargein opposing drastic cuts to the Hanford budget, and in 2020she led a successful effortto defeat a provision in the annual National Defense Authorization Act that could have diverted billions in funding from ongoing cleanup projects.
In January 2021, at the nomination hearing for former Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Sen. Cantwellsecured a pledge to fully fund Hanford cleanupfrom the nominee. Secretary Granholmvisited the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratoryin Richland and the Hanford site with Sen. Cantwell in August 2022 and they discussed the need for increased and sustained funding.