Big Price Tag To Clean Up Hanford

KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — The Energy Department estimates it will cost $110 billion to finish environmental cleanup work at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

The figure was released this week in the fifth annual lifecycle report, now required as part of the Tri-Party Agreement with the state of Washington and Environmental Protection Agency.

The estimate is based on completing most work by 2060 and then some oversight and monitoring until 2090.

In recent years, the Hanford budget has been a little more than $2 billion a year. But the lifecycle report projects budgets of more than $3 billion from fiscal 2016 through fiscal 2020. Spending wouldn't drop below $2 billion until about 2046.