Trump administration proposes big cut in Hanford spending

RICHLAND — The Trump administration is proposing big cuts to the cleanup budget for the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The Tri-City Herald reports the administration on Monday proposed cutting Hanford’s budget by $416 million.

Hanford for decades made plutonium for nuclear weapons and the site is now engaged in cleaning up the resulting highly radioactive wastes.

Hanford’s annual budget would drop from about $2.5 billion thisl year to $2.1 billion next year under the budget request submitted to Congress, which sets the budget.

The cut comes as a new estimate at least triples the estimated cost of Hanford cleanup.

A report released in January puts the remaining cleanup costs for Hanford at $323 billion under a best case scenario. At worst it could be $677 billion.