Senator Murray Statement on Energy Secretary Wright Confirming DOE is Upending Progress at Hanford Waste Treatment Plant

Letter from Waste Treatment Plant prime contractor today announces all safety reviews and technical tests at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant are complete - LETTER HERE

ICYMI: Senator Murray on Trump Administration Threatening Nuclear Waste Cleanup Efforts at Hanford Site in WA

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement after receiving notification that the Waste Treatment Plant at Hanford will beready to complete hot commissioning ahead of schedule-and after speaking on the phone with Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright, who admitted that the Trump administration is actively stalling progress at the plant, where hot commissioning of the Direct-Feed Low Activity Waste (DFLAW) facility must be completed by October 15^th to be in compliance with the legally-binding Holistic Agreement.

Senator Murray spoke to Wright in the wake of alarming reports earlier this week revealing the Trump administration abruptly fired Roger Jarrell-principal deputy assistant secretary of Environmental Management (EM), the office that oversees nuclear cleanup operations at the Hanford site in Washington state-for reasons related to Secretary Wright's desire to go in a "different direction" on the Hanford cleanup. As the reporting and other sources made clear, DOE leadership is interested in axing the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant Project at the Hanford Site altogether-which has been in the works for decades and is the world's largest and most technically sophisticated radioactive waste treatment plant-despite the fact that DFLAW is fully constructed and is slated to complete hot commissioning next month. To date, over $30 billion has been spent building the Waste Treatment Plant.

Last night, in response to these reports, Senator Murray placed a hold on the nomination of Tim Walsh to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management-a position that oversees Hanford.

"Today, Secretary Wright admitted to me during a phone call that the Department of Energy is planning to curb hot commissioning at the Waste Treatment Plant at Hanford-an astonishingly senseless and destructive move and a threat to the entire nuclear cleanup mission at Hanford," Senator Murray said.

"The Secretary's comments were in stark contrast to the positive news we received today that safety reviews and technical tests at one melter at the Waste Treatment Plant have been completed-some of the final steps before the plant can begin turning nuclear waste into glass via completion of hot commissioning by October 15th. Not only has this facility already been built, but commissioning is ahead of schedule. Secretary Wright claimed that moving forward with hot commissioning is an issue of safety, but records do not corroborate his assertion."

Internal DOE records confirmed that the Project Management Risk Committee unanimously endorsed moving forward to project completion in July. The only remaining obstacle was sign-off by the Deputy Secretary.

"Whether Secretary Wright was given bad information or is simply confused about how the vitrification facility works, I can't say, but I am not satisfied by his explanation for why DOE has suddenly decided to stall progress on the Waste Treatment Plant. Last night I put a hold on Tim Walsh's nomination to oversee Hanford-I am not letting up and will do everything I can to get to the bottom of DOE's intentions and stop this catastrophic move to upend the Hanford cleanup mission," Senator Murray continued.

"Hanford is the largest and most complex nuclear waste cleanup site in history, and the Trump administration needs to understand that trying to do nuclear cleanup on the cheap is only more costly and more dangerous in the long run. We are closer than we've ever been to turning nuclear waste into glass-I won't let the Trump administration light billions of taxpayer dollars on fire. I will never stop fighting for the Hanford cleanup mission, the workers who power it, and the Tri-Cities."

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