Hanford nuclear cleanup gets federal budget bump

Congress this week approved a $3.2 billion budget for the Hanford nuclear reservation’s cleanup in fiscal 2026 — a more than $200 million increase from the prior two years.

That is more than what the Trump administration originally requested for Hanford, but almost $3 billion less than what Washington officials believe is needed this year to keep the site’s cleanup on its legally mandated timetable. This is also the biggest cleanup budget in Hanford’s history.

President Donald Trump’s budget request allocated slightly less than $400 million to operate Hanford’s biggest project — the new plant to convert the site’s radioactive waste into glass, which began operating in October.

Congress bumped that budget up to $480 million, according to the office of Washington U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/briefs/hanford-nuclear-cleanup-site-gets-federal-budget-bump/