USA: Cold War atomic site considered for solar development

The largest solar energy site in the U.S. and other clean energy projects could be built on land owned by the Department of Energy. Including where components for Cold War-era atomic bombs were developed, the agency said on Friday.

U.S. national security land under consideration for clean energy projects

“These sites are all safe now, they’re completely clean and ready for redevelopment,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at an event at her department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Aisni, Granholm presented the Cleanup to Clean Energy plan to help achieve President Joe Biden’s clean electricity goals. The administration wants the U.S. power grid to run on clean energy by 2035. As a result, many sites already have customers and workers, officials said. The event brought together renewable energy and nuclear power developers, involving participants with experience in implementing clean electricity projects generating at least 200 megawatts.

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DOE has identified land 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. This was to produce plutonium and uranium for atomic bombs as part of the Manhattan Project. They’ve now put Hanford out of business. Decontamination of leaking high-level radioactive waste and other pollutants throughout the site has already cost billions of dollars and will do so for many years to come. Thus, there were no immediate further details on the exact location or timing of potential projects. Reported by Timothy Gardner and Laura Sanicola in Washington Edited by Marguerita Choy