Repugnants drone on about out-of-control federal spending except when it comes to corporate welfare and the DOD. Case in point: Hanford Nuclear Waste Site. Hanford was the facility for the nation's WWII nuclear weapons production as part of the Manhattan Project. Consequently it is now the nation's most contaminated waste site. Clean up began in 1980 and is still far from complete. In fact boiling radioactive sludge is leaking out of an underground tank, B-109. Another leaking take B-211 has been contaminating the ground water and soil since at least 2011 when the leak was discovered. One hundred and seventy seven underground storage tanks are six decades past their useful life hold 56 million gallons of highly radioactive sludge. The waste threatens the Columbia River and make the area, half the size of Rhode Island, off-limits to the public. Cleaning up Hanford is estimated to take $677 billion with $177 billion. Each year $2 billion is funneled to the clean up, the costs are embedded in the Department of Energy's budget since remediation is an imperative both parties endorse. Both the Senate and House appropriations committees recently asked President Biden for more money for the Hanford budget.
The privately owned construction behemoth and prime contractor, Bechtel, is unable to stop the leaks. It's record of contract performance is particularly bad. Yet year after year it receives tax dollar for its contract to build a vitrification plant to encapsulate radioactive material that has a half-life of 250,000 years. Despite working on the plant for twelve years, the waste treatment facility has not processed a single drop of radioactive waste. Estimates put the plant's construction cost at $20 billion, and operating costs at $60 billion. A very lucrative tab to be running with Uncle Sam. In 2018 the Energy Department excoriated Bechtel for its shoddy work and lack of corrective actions on the waste treatment project. In 2020 Bechtel and AECOM Energy and Construction paid $58 million in fines for overcharging the government for extended overhead. In 2016 the companies paid $125 million for using substandard materials. Finally in 2019 the Inspector General downgraded performance ratings to "marginal". Despite these rip-offs, Bechtel continues to get its contracts renewed, probably because no other competent company wants the business.
One of the reasons federal spending seems to be skyrocketing is the lack of accountability and oversight over contractors getting fat on federal largest. No doubt Hanford needs to be made safe. The corroding storage tanks also produce hydrogen, which could explode producing nuclear fallout on the level of Chernobyl. Hanford polluted as a national sacrifice zone in the cause of winning a world war. Consequently remediation is the nation's responsibility. But the clean up could be accomplished with a lot more efficiency.