After serving the Hanford Site’s water system for more than eight decades, the 283W water treatment plant is now officially offline. The facility treated and delivered about 2 million gallons of water daily for site operations.
Office of Environmental Management
September 22, 2026
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Crews with Hanford Field Office contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions work to remove a chlorine canister from its protective encasement at the 283W water treatment plant.
RICHLAND, Wash. — After serving the Hanford Site’s water system for more than eight decades, the 283W water treatment plant is now officially offline. The facility treated and delivered about 2 million gallons of water daily for site operations.
As part of their work to close down the 283W facility, crews with Hanford Field Office contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions safely removed the plant’s chlorine gas cylinders, eliminating a longtime potential risk to worker safety.
“This is a tremendous accomplishment when it comes to the safety of our workforce,” said Vanessa Turner, Hanford Field Office assistant manager for mission support. “For decades, all Hanford workers have had to complete annual safety training to ensure they’re prepared for a potential chlorine gas emergency. Now, that threat is gone.”
Crews load one of the 283W plant’s chlorine canisters onto a truck for transportation to an offsite facility.
Removal of the chlorine cylinders also eliminates the need for several Hanford Site emergency preparedness requirements in place for decades.
As part of ongoing efforts to modernize infrastructure on the Hanford Site, the new Central Plateau Water Treatment Facility started delivering water to Hanford’s water system in January, in tandem with the 283W plant. The new facility has steadily ramped up production, using an innovative microfiltration method to efficiently deliver up to 3.5 million gallons of water a day, with the ability to expand to 5 million gallons, if demand warrants.
The 10,000-square-foot facility automates much of the water treatment process and provides all potable water to the cleanup hub of the Hanford Site, the Central Plateau, and supports tank waste treatment operations. The Central Plateau is home to former processing facilities, underground waste tanks, groundwater treatment facilities, a disposal facility and the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.
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