The final version of the Hanford budget for the fiscal year that
starts today includes
$87 million more than the budget proposed by the Obama administration.
That
gives Hanford a budget of almost $2.1 billion for the year.
It’s a
“big win,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a senior member of the Energy
and Water Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. “This bill
moves us toward the consistent budgets we need each year to deliver on
cleanup goals.”
The $87 million added by Congress was in addition to a $24 million
increase included in the proposed administration budget over the fiscal
2009 budget.
In addition to its annual budgets, Hanford also is
receiving $1.96 billion in economic stimulus funding to spend over the
next two years. That money already has created more than 3,000 jobs,
both part time and full time, although some jobs support Hanford cleanup
with manufacturing or other work outside the Mid-Columbia.
The
stimulus money, combined with the 2010 budget, “will allow us to
continue to safeguard jobs and address big cleanup priorities like
ground water protection and waste treatment,” Murray said.
The
Senate had passed a budget that was $120 million more than the proposed
administration budget and the House had passed a budget that was $51.8
million below the proposed budget. The bills were reconciled in a
conference committee Wednesday to set the final budget of $87 million
over the administration’s proposal.
Much of the additional $87
million would be used for ground water cleanup and work toward treating
and disposing of K Basins radioactive sludge.
The vitrification
plant receives full funding of $690 million, and Hanford officials also
will have more leeway on how money is spent. In recent years money has
been appropriated separately for the four main buildings and the group
of support buildings at the facility.
This year money is divided
into just two appropriations — for the Pretreatment Facility and for
everything else. That will allow the Department of Energy more
flexibility in construction and work force scheduling across the vit
plant campus.
The tank farms will receive $408 million, up from
$320 million from the year just ended.
DOE’s Hanford Richland
Operations Office, which handles all work except the vit plant and tank
farms, will receive $990 million. That includes the $87 million increase
over the administration budget request.
“TRIDEC is extremely
pleased with an increase of $87 million over the administration’s
request,” said Gary Petersen, vice president of Hanford programs for the
Tri-City Development Council.
It’s a particularly good number
considering that some other programs and sites had their budgets
reduced, he said.
“This makes the third year in a row that Sen.
Murray has managed to help maintain a consistent budget for Hanford
cleanup,” Petersen said. Credit in the House goes to Republican Rep. Doc
Hastings and Democratic Reps. Norm Dicks and Rick Larsen, he said.
“The
final funding level for next year will enable Hanford cleanup to
continue moving forward with real progress,” Hastings said in a
statement.
The Energy and Water Appropriations Bill, which
included the Hanford budget, also has a significant cut for nuclear
waste disposal.
The Obama administration has terminated the Yucca
Mountain, Nev., nuclear waste repository, House and Senate appropriation
leaders said in a news release.
The conference committee
agreement provides $197 million, which is $92 million below 2009, to
continue activities to inform future policy decisions on national
nuclear waste disposal and to establish a blue ribbon commission to
evaluate alternatives for nuclear waste disposal.
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