Moving forward on the nation’s nuclear waste management

Washingtonians are familiar with the key role that the Hanford site played in the defense of our nation during World War II and the Cold War as a component of the Manhattan Project.

The legacy of the federal government’s work at Hanford left behind 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste in 177 underground tanks. Progress on moving the high-level nuclear waste to permanent storage has needlessly stalled due to the Obama Administration’s attempts to shut down Yucca Mountain.

Earlier this month, I joined a bipartisan congressional tour of Yucca to see the site firsthand. Under the l...