Overview | ARRA

What is ARRA?

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is an economic stimulus package designed to boost the U.S. economy in the wake of the economic downturn.

In April 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Richland Operations Office received $1.96 billion to create or retain about 4,000 jobs and accelerate environmental cleanup at the 586-square mile Hanford Site. Hanford was selected because it had contractors in place that could quickly begin hiring hundreds of people for what the government called “shovel-ready” projects.

Washington Closure was allocated $253.6 million of that money for cleanup projects in the 218-square-mile Columbia River corridor. ARRA funding is being used for the following projects:

• The expansion and operational enhancements at ERDF. The Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility is being expanded for the fourth time since it began operation in 1996. ERDF accommodates low-level radioactive, hazardous and mixed waste generated during cleanup activities from the River Corridor Cleanup Project and other Hanford contractors.
• The characterization of the 618-10 Burial Ground. The burial ground is considered the most complex Washington Closure has addressed to date. From 1954 to 1963, Hanford workers dumped highly radioactive waste into 94 vertical pipes buried underground and 23 waste trenches.
• The remediation of the IU 2 & 6 Segment 1 waste sites. Six waste sites in a 23-square-mile area of the northeastern portion of the Hanford Site require remediation and represent the last waste sites to be cleaned up in this section of the Hanford Site.
• The remediation of F Area waste sites. During reactor construction and operations, waste was disposed in unlined pits and trenches throughout F Area. Most of the cleanup work has been completed, but during cleanup of other sites, 12 more waste sites were discovered.
• The confirmatory sampling of 66 additional waste sites. The sites were not part of the cleanup agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its regulators or a part of the River Corridor Closure Contract. Confirmatory sampling is the first step in determining if these sites require remediation.