The U.S. Department of Energy’s Assistant Secretary for the Office of Environmental Management is visiting Hanford this week. His visit to the nation’s largest environmental cleanup site is less than two weeks since he was sworn in on Oct. 23. Official details of the trip are light, but a DOE spokesperson confirmed Tim Walsh’s visit in a strongly worded email:
“While Democrats hold the government hostage to provide free healthcare to illegals, the Trump administration is working hard to deliver on its mission of unleashing American energy dominance. Despite the Democrats' best efforts to obstruct, Tim Walsh, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Environmental Management, will be meeting with Hanford staff to continue advancing the Hanford mission safely and effectively.”
To fact check, Republicans control both the House and the Senate. And according to NPR reporting on similar claims, undocumented immigrants do not qualify for Medicaid or tax credits on Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Oftentimes when DOE officials from Washington, D.C., visit Hanford they examine things like options for treating high level waste, the new Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Facility, tank waste and contaminated ground water remediation.
“There’s no doubt the Republican shutdown has taken a very real toll on Hanford workers, contractors, and the entire community,” said U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA). “After DOE’s 11th hour attempts to delay progress at Hanford earlier this year, I hope Tim Walsh’s visit helps him understand why the federal government absolutely cannot afford to cut corners or shortchange the Hanford cleanup mission.”
Walsh’s trip to southeast Washington comes amid the backdrop of the deepening federal government shutdown.
If the government shutdown persists, a source close to the leadership of the U.S. Department of Energy Hanford field office said the agency could ramp down to “essential personnel” by as early as next week. The source said that could mean that fewer than 10 Energy staffers for Hanford would be left, out of close to a couple hundred currently working.
Federal shutdown for DOE Hanford Field Office
Inside the federal Energy office in Richland, workers are making macabre jokes about calendarizing meetings for weeks and months ahead that may not happen.
What’s not as funny, they say, are concerns over their healthcare and pay. No one seems to have answers about COBRA or if they’ll get back pay when the federal government starts up again.
“I think everywhere across the federal government, including at Hanford, there is a fair amount of uncertainty,” said David Reeploeg, Executive Director of Hanford Communities. “Folks are understandably worried about what the long-term plan is, if the shutdown is to continue into the next few weeks or months. But, as I understand it, as of right now the full operation of Hanford is still continuing, and people are going out and doing the work, which is great. And hopefully the shutdown will be resolved by Congress and the White House before we get to a point where Hanford operations are directly impacted.”
Hanford contractors
If the government shutdown continues, many site contractors could also have to furlough workers. About 13,000 people work on the Hanford site.
- H2C handles tank waste
- Navarro-ATL manages the 222-S Lab that analyzes highly radioactive samples
- CPCCo takes care of Hanford’s near-the-river corridor, site operations and long-lived radioactive transuranic waste
- Hanford Mission Integration Solutions supports much of the site with utilities, infrastructure, security and fire services
Sources say all of these contractors could be out of money by late December if the government shutdown continues.
Runnin’ on empty
It’s possible, experts say, that the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste facility wouldn’t run if mass furloughs go into effect. It requires about 2,000 workers to operate. The huge plant is binding up radioactive waste into massive glass logs for more-safe storage for centuries.
The massive melters that help combine waste with glass-forming materials into a molten goo, need to run constantly.
The plant started up on Saturday, Oct. 11. The plant is designed to run 24-7 for its entire life. Some experts worry about what would happen to the plant’s internal works if the plant were idled.
Unions’ “Bump and roll”
If contractors run out federal money at different times, many union employees would follow a “bump and roll” system. That means that someone more senior in the union that gets furloughed, could bump another employee of lesser time in the union out of their job temporarily. It means workers could shift not only their jobs, but employers and areas of the site.
Contractor heads are exploring options right now.
“When there is uncertainty, and if there were to be furloughs or layoffs, then some highly skilled folks that work at Hanford – whether they’re on the craft skilled labor side or engineering or science side, sometimes those folks are in really high demand, and it would be really a shame if they did get laid off or furloughed, or because of the uncertainty they choose to take another opportunity and didn’t come back,” Reeploeg said. “That ends up being a net loss for the Hanford site and some of those skilled people are very difficult to replace.”
All of this uncertainty is happening while about 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stews in aging underground tanks from WWII and the Cold War, not far from the Columbia River. That’s the leftovers from plutonium production to make the nation’s atomic bombs.
Hanford is nearly half of the DOE’s Environmental Management spending – with an overall budget of about $3 billion a year.
