Proposal Could Halve Hanford Cleanup Funding Sen. Murray Persuades Colleague To Delay Introduction Of His Plan To Set $800 Million Ceiling On Annual Spending

The top Democrat on a Senate panel overseeing the Hanford Nuclear Reservation wants to cap annual spending on Hanford cleanup, perhaps at as little as half the current level, Sen. Patty Murray said Monday.

Murray, D-Wash., said she voiced her opposition to Sen. Bennett Johnston, D-La., about his tentative proposal to set an $800 million ceiling on annual cleanup spending at the Energy Department site near Richland.

“Certainly we want taxpayers to get their money’s worth. But to just cap this and assume all the money is not being spent wisely is not the right approach,” Murray said in a telephone interview Monday night.

“We should not just throw up our arms,” she said.

DOE’s current budget plans call for $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion to be spent annually to clean up radioactive waste at the 560-square-mile reservation in southeast Washington.

Johnston is the former chairman and current ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He and Alaska Republican Sen. Frank Murkowski, chairman of the committee, scheduled a news conference this afternoon to unveil a report highly critical of cleanup efforts at Hanford.

More than $7.5 billion has been spent over the last six years to clean up nuclear waste at the site founded in 1943 to help build nuclear bombs for World War II. Critics say little actual cleanup has occurred.

Murray said Johnston originally intended to introduce a bill capping cleanup spending at Hanford in conjunction with release of the new committee report today.

But she said after listening to her complaints, Johnston agreed late last week to postpone introduction of the bill until after the report was released.

“I called him when I heard about it and said there was no way I would stand still to let this happen,” Murray said.

“My father was born and raised in Kennewick (near Richland) under the plume of Hanford. Although people there felt strongly about the contribution to ending World War II, this nation owes them something back too,” she said.

“He was frankly surprised at how adamant I felt about it,” she said about Johnston.

From 1943-50, more than 55 million gallons of radioactive waste were poured into the ground at the Hanford reservation. Thousands of metric tons of radioactive materials currently are stored at the site, including 2,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel.

A spokesman for Johnston said Monday he had no information on legislation related to the report but confirmed no related legislation would be introduced today.

Aides to Murkowski and Johnston refused to discuss the report on Monday.