The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is making moves to convert old nuclear weapons program sites into clean energy projects, starting with an 8,000-acre area of the Hanford Site in Washington state, as reported by Electrek.
In July 2023, the government announced its Cleanup to Clean Energy Initiative that aims to develop 35,000 acres of federal land across five locations into clean-energy generating facilities. U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm elaborated on the overall plan in a statement.
"Through the Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative, DOE will leverage areas that were previously used to protect our national security and will repurpose them to the same end — this time, generating clean energy that will help save the planet and protect our energy independence."
As Electrek notes, the current plan for Hanford is to partner with Hecate Energy to build a 1-gigawatt solar farm at the location. Concurrently, workers are testing methods to accelerate radioactive waste cleanup, with a 2025 target to begin shipping it offsite for safe disposal.
By adding a solar array there, the government can begin remediating the polluted land, while also adding sustainable power to the grid. This tracks with the global trend of increased investments in clean energy over dirtier sources, and as more capacity is added, it will help reduce the overall cost per megawatt.
Solar power is one of the fastest-growing sources of renewable energy in the U.S., helped along by larger capacity additions and tax incentives. There are enough solar projects planned to help grow utility-scale capacity to 131 gigawatts by the end of this year, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Coal plants across the country are part of this growth, as many are being transitioned to solar farms, while others will become battery storage facilities to balance supply and demand.
Some commenters commended the work at the Hanford Site while remaining cautiously skeptical, with one saying, "Seems like a good/smart repurpose of what is otherwise not usable land, assuming it can be implemented and maintained safely."
Plans for expanding green developments will have a positive impact on both the environment and the economy, as Granholm shared in the report.
"DOE is transforming thousands of acres of land at our Hanford Site into a thriving center of carbon-free solar power generation, leading by example in cleaning up our environment and delivering new economic opportunities to local communities."
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