
A partnership between a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) contractor and Washington State University (WSU) is supporting the growth of future professionals while advancing cleanup priorities at the Hanford Site.

Crews at the Hanford Site are reducing risk at the Plutonium Uranium Extraction Plant (PUREX), one of the site’s five former chemical separations facilities.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) HAMMER Federal Training Center and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory co-hosted this year’s gathering of the Training Working Group of the Energy Facility Contractors Group at the Hanford Site.

Crews at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) recently brought the second of two 300-ton melters up to the operating temperature of 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit as part of EM’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Program.

Recent completion of a project at the Hanford Site marked a significant accomplishment, as crews from EM contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) loaded and shipped 15 drums of sodium waste from the site’s former research reactors for offsite treatment.

The Hanford Fire Department is using prescribed burns at the 580-square-mile EM cleanup site to reduce wildfire risks in the late spring and summer.

A perfect fit for this year’s Waste Management Symposia theme, “Proud of our Past, Poised for the Future,” this panel focused on the past 50 years of environmental remediation and engaged with the audience on challenges and opportunities as cleanup progress continues.

Public tours are set to resume this month for a limited time at the Hanford Site’s B Reactor National Historical Park, part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which also includes facilities in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

You may have seen the movie about Oppenheimer but how much Manhattan Project history do you really know? Are you up for a challenge to find out?
Representatives from the Department of Energy (DOE), in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Washington State Department of Ecology, hosted the fiscal year 2026 Hanford Site Cleanup Priorities public briefing on March 6 at the Richland Public Library.