Welcome to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford Site—1,518 square kilometers (586 square miles) located in southeastern Washington State, United States of America. The Hanford Site was established during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project and played a pivotal role in the nation’s defense for more than 50 years.

Currently, the Hanford Site is engaged in the world’s largest environmental cleanup with many challenges to be resolved in the face of overlapping, technical, political, regulatory, and cultural interests. The cleanup efforts are focused – restoring the lands along the Columbia River Corridor and transitioning the central portion of the Hanford Site (the Central Plateau) to a modern, protective waste management operation. And we are making substantial progress.

Our momentum over the past several years has convinced us we can greatly accelerate risk reduction and the completion of the Environmental Management (cleanup) mission at Hanford from the original 2070 end date to 2035 or perhaps even earlier. Such an acceleration would mean early risk reduction and a savings to taxpayers in the tens of billions of dollars. It’s a goal worth fighting for.

It’s an exciting time at Hanford, with more changes underway, new technologies helping to speed our work, and key projects on the verge of being complete.