Deal to clean up land around 3 Hanford reactors

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – The land where the federal government created some of the plutonium for nuclear weapons will be so cleaned of radiation and other pollution that it could be used for homes in the future.

That’s according to a final plan hammered out between the U.S. Department of Energy and federal and state regulators overseeing the cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The plan announced this week would spend $200 million to finish cleanup of 7.8 square miles in a portion of Hanford called the 100 Area D and H areas.

That’s where the D, DR and H nuclear reactors operated for decades, helping create plutonium, a key ingredient in nuclear weapons.

Agreements must still be reached for the sites of five other reactors.

Hanford is located near Richland, Washington.