SPOKANE  (AP) — All four senators from Washington and Oregon voted against Rick Perry to become energy secretary, saying they were worried about his commitment to clean up the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

But the former Texas governor was easily approved by the full Senate Thursday to join the cabinet of President Donald Trump.

The Department of Energy is responsible for the nation's nuclear arsenal and the waste left over from the production of those weapons.

Hanford, created during the Manhattan Project in World War II, for decades made plutonium, a key ingredient in nuclear weapons. That mission ended decades ago, and the site is now engaged in cleaning up the nation's largest stockpile of radioactive waste. That work expected to take decades and cost tens of billions of dollars.

 

More From News Talk KIT