Energy Department starts building water treatment system at contaminated Wash. nuclear site

Contaminated Wash. site gets new treatment system

RICHLAND, Wash. — Construction has begun on an $80 million groundwater treatment system at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site.

Federal stimulus money is paying for the construction, which will treat contaminated groundwater at south-central Washington’s Hanford nuclear reservation.

The Department of Energy is spending about $2 billion of stimulus money to speed cleanup at Hanford. Department officials say the water project is just one example of how the money is creating jobs, protecting the nearby Columbia River and reducing the long-term costs of cleanup.

The new system is expected to be operating by 2012. It will pump more than 85 million gallons of contaminated groundwater per month.