![](images/Logos/Reuters%20Logo.jpg)
July 28, 2023
By Laura Sanicola and Timothy Gardner
Cold War-era atomic
bomb site could host largest US solar development
![](images/images_08_10_2023/pic1.jpg)
The 200 Area of the Hanford nuclear site is seen
in a 1995 aerial photo. Department of Energy/Handout via REUTERS/File
Photo
WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters)
- The largest U.S. solar power site and other clean energy projects
could be built on lands owned by the Department of Energy, including
where components for Cold War-era atomic bombs were developed, the
agency said on Friday.
The DOE said it has identified about 70,000 acres (283 square
kilometers) of land across five states, most of which has been used as
a buffer for national security purposes, that could eventually host
clean energy projects including solar, wind and nuclear power.
“These sites are all safe now, they are completely clean and ready for
redevelopment,” U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said at an
event at her department's headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Granholm presented the Cleanup to Clean Energy plan to help achieve
President Joe Biden's clean electricity goals. The administration
wants the U.S. grid to run on clean energy by 2035. Many of the sites
already have power customers and work forces, officials said.
The event included developers of renewable power and nuclear power,
involving participants with experience implementing clean electricity
projects generating at least 200 megawatts.
The DOE identified lands at the following sites for potential
development:
-Hanford Site, Richland, Washington
-Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho
-Nevada Nuclear Security Site, Nye County, Nevada
-Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina
-Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Carlsbad, New Mexico
The U.S. government built Hanford and other complexes in the 1940s to
produce plutonium and uranium for atomic bombs under the Manhattan
Project.
Hanford is now decommissioned. Decontaminating leaks of highly
radioactive waste and other pollution at the overall site has already
cost billions of dollars and will for many years.
There were no other immediate details on the exact place or timing of
potential projects.
Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Laura Sanicola in Washington Editing
by Marguerita Choy
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Green Play Ammonia™, Yielder® NFuel Energy.
Spokane, Washington. 99212
www.exactrix.com
509 995 1879 cell, Pacific.
Nathan1@greenplayammonia.com
exactrix@exactrix.com
|