U.S. Department of Energy

At the Richland office, our 235 employees work toward protecting the workers, public, and environment by further reducing risk, providing the necessary infrastructure for continued safe and effective cleanup operations, and restoring Hanford lands for future access and use. The Richland office oversees work performed by contractors, as well as site infrastructure needs and many other programs that are necessary to ensure the safety of Hanford cleanup.

Hanford produced two-thirds of the nation’s plutonium during World War II and The Cold War. Five plants, located in the center of the site, processed 110,000 tons of fuel from the reactors, discharging an estimated 450 billion gallons of liquid to soil disposal sites and 56 million gallons of radioactive waste to 177 large underground tanks.

In more than 30 years of cleanup, vast amounts of progress have been made including remediating more than 1,300 waste sites, demolishing over 800 facilities, removing 18 million tons of contaminated soil and debris from sites along the Columbia River, and treating 18 billion gallons of groundwater. Check out our cleanup progress at the Hanford Site and stay up to date.