Why It Matters
At nearly a third of the Hanford site and most contaminated areas of the Idaho site, the Department of Energy (DOE) and regulators set nuclear waste cleanup standards based on residential use even though future residential use is unlikely, according to Nuclear Waste: Future Land Use Planning at Selected DOE Cleanup Sites, published Oct. 16. DOE estimates that cleaning up its 15 remaining sites will cost between $641 billion and $840 billion and be completed in 2100.
The Big Picture
DOE's future land use planning at the six sites reviewed began as early as 1992, when the agency started coordinating initial plans with local communities. Those plans inform, but do not bind, the assumptions DOE and regulators use when selecting a cleanup remedy, and the chosen remedy carries lasting consequences: any future use that raises exposure to residual contamination above the level the remedy contemplated could undermine its protectiveness.
At the Oak Ridge, Paducah, Portsmouth, and Savannah River sites, DOE and regulators established cleanup levels consistent with DOE's initial plans and agreed to clean most contaminated areas to support industrial use.
At Hanford and Idaho, however, they set standards more stringent than those needed for DOE's anticipated conservation, preservation, or industrial uses, effectively cleaning to a residential standard for land where residential use is not expected.
Officials said it would be difficult to calculate the cost difference between cleaning up to residential versus other standards; others noted that residential cleanup is typically more costly.
The study was conducted under a provision in Senate Report 118-188, which directed the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report on DOE's future land use planning at cleanup sites.
DOE has transferred or leased a small amount of cleaned-up land at five of the six reviewed sites to communities or private entities for industrial use, and has announced new initiatives for energy development, integrated nuclear fuel cycle hubs, and co-located data centers to support artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Some community stakeholders have expressed interest in more land transfers, and stakeholders generally expressed support for industrial reuse, with DOE officials and stakeholders citing potential benefits such as economic growth, high-quality jobs, or local tax revenue.
DOE officials and stakeholders also cited potential drawbacks, including diversion of focus and resources away from cleanup, pollution and site recontamination risks, and future DOE liabilities. GAO selected the six sites it reviewed to represent a range of regulatory frameworks, cleanup stages, and future land uses.
The Bottom Line
A related October 2026 GAO report on defense nuclear waste, GAO-27-107791, recommended that Congress consider clarifying DOE's and regulators' roles and decision-making authority in determining future land uses, and recommended that DOE direct cleanup sites to evaluate costs and schedules based on multiple potential future land uses as part of cleanup decisions. GAO stated that implementing these recommendations "would help DOE link future land use assumptions with cleanup decisions in more transparent and cost-effective ways."
Those recommendations remain the actionable lever for change: without congressional clarification of roles and a DOE shift to multi-scenario cost planning, the mismatch between cleanup standards and anticipated land use at Hanford and Idaho will persist across a cleanup horizon stretching to 2100.
With DOE's cost estimate ranging from $641 billion to $840 billion, how Congress and DOE respond to those recommendations will determine how transparently the federal government accounts for hundreds of billions in long-term cleanup commitments and whether communities waiting on land transfers see those prospects accelerate or stall.
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