Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Liability shifting (spin-offs, bankruptcy, closure bonds) · United States · 1943–2086

Sellafield decommissioning and Hanford cleanup budgets

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 1 not disclosed · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 unclear See the gaps

Two state-funded nuclear clean-up programmes, Hanford in the United States and Sellafield in the United Kingdom, carry cost estimates of hundreds of billions of dollars and many decades of work. At Hanford, contractors settled False Claims Act cases in 2016 and 2020.

$364–589.4 billion estimateHanford: total clean-up cost estimate (US Department of Energy, April 2025)
Completion given as 2086. Estimate as reported by Tri-Cities Business News.

Status As of April 2025: the Department of Energy gave a Hanford clean-up estimate of $364–589.4 billion ending in 2086; the 2016 and 2020 settlements were concluded.

What?
Nuclear-waste clean-up programmes at Hanford (United States) and Sellafield (United Kingdom), with two settlements by Hanford contractors. Tri-Cities Business News
Where?
Hanford site on the Columbia River, Washington, United States; Sellafield, Cumbria, United Kingdom.
When?
Hanford waste from 1943; settlements in 2016 and 2020; Department of Energy estimate of April 2025 ends in 2086. Tri-Cities Business News
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
The Department of Justice alleged mischarging and lobbying with contract funds in 2016; a second suit alleged billing for idle labour. US Department of Justice
How?
The government sued contractors, and the cases ended in settlements of $125 million (2016) and $57.8 million (2020). ENR
5 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who

What happened

The record, in order.

Hanford, on the Columbia River in Washington state, holds nuclear waste left from the wartime Manhattan Project. A waste treatment plant (WTP) is being built there by contractors including Bechtel and URS, the latter now part of AECOM.

In November 2016 the US Department of Justice announced the settlement of a lawsuit against Energy Department contractors. The settlement, of $125 million, covered allegations that Bechtel and URS billed the government for defective nuclear-quality material and used federal contract money for a multi-year lobbying campaign aimed at keeping the plant funded.

In September 2020 Bechtel and AECOM settled a second suit, over allegations that they billed the government for idle labour hours at Hanford, for $57.8 million. The same report gave the cost of the waste treatment plant as $16.8 billion.

In April 2025 the Department of Energy gave a Hanford clean-up cost estimate of $364 billion to $589.4 billion, with completion in 2086.

Sellafield, in the United Kingdom, is a separate decommissioning programme. A National Audit Office press release in October 2024 said the site was not yet achieving value for money. Cost figures attributed to the National Audit Office for Sellafield are listed under unknowns because they are not independently verified.

  1. 1943Hanford waste begins to accumulate from the Manhattan Project
  2. 2016Bechtel and URS settle the Department of Justice case for $125 million
  3. 2020Bechtel and AECOM settle an idle-labour billing suit for $57.8 million
  4. 2024National Audit Office says Sellafield is not yet achieving value for money (October)
  5. 2025Department of Energy gives Hanford clean-up cost as $364–589.4 billion, ending in 2086 (April)

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • The Department of Energy and its contractor Bechtel said they were committed to the Hanford clean-up (paraphrase; wording not on record).
    US Department of Energy and Bechtel

Recorded

  • Bechtel and URS settled the Department of Justice case for $125 million in November 2016.
    US Department of Justice
  • Bechtel and AECOM settled the idle-labour billing claim for $57.8 million in September 2020.
    ENR
  • The Department of Energy put the total Hanford clean-up cost at $364–589.4 billion, with completion in 2086 (April 2025).
    Tri-Cities Business News
  • The waste treatment plant cost was given as $16.8 billion (September 2020 report).
    ENR

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Settlement, Bechtel and URS (2016)$125m
Settlement, Bechtel and AECOM (2020)$58m
Currency: USD · Window: 2016–2020. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • us-doe (undated): Said it was committed to the clean-up (paraphrase; wording not on record).
  • bechtel (undated): Said it was committed to the clean-up (paraphrase; wording not on record).

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 2016-11Settled$125m settlement, millions
    United States v. Energy Department contractors (Bechtel and URS): mischarging and lobbying
    US federal court · Civil · United States (Department of Justice) → Bechtel and URS (now AECOM)

    The government alleged the contractors billed it for defective nuclear-quality material and used federal contract funds for a multi-year lobbying campaign to keep the waste treatment plant funded. The case ended in a $125 million settlement. US Department of Justice

  2. 2020-09Settled$57.8m settlement, millions
    Hanford idle-labour billing suit
    US federal court · Civil · United States → Bechtel and AECOM

    The government alleged the contractors billed for idle labour hours at the Hanford clean-up site. The suit was settled for $57.8 million. ENR

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Hanford clean-up estimate
$364–589.4 billion
Department of Energy estimate reported April 2025; completion 2086
Waste treatment plant cost
$16.8 billion
As given in a September 2020 report

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Under standard-setter reviewKey earnings undisclosed

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

Record

  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: Sellafield figures attributed to the National Audit Office, namely a decommissioning cost estimate of £136 billion (March 2024), £2.7 billion spent on the site in 2023-24, and clean-up continuing to 2125.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a US Department of Energy Environmental Management budget of about $8.5 billion for fiscal year 2025, a Hanford request of $3.1 billion, and the Bechtel vitrification plant described as about $17 billion.
  • Unclear Whether Bechtel or AECOM admitted liability in either Hanford settlement is not stated in the sources reviewed.
  • Not disclosed The contractors' profit from Hanford is not published in the sources reviewed.
  • None on record No source reviewed reports a criminal charge against any individual in connection with the Hanford settlements.

Did the harm stop?

No source reviewed says that the clean-up has been completed at either site; the Department of Energy's April 2025 estimate puts completion at Hanford in 2086.

Who paid?

The Hanford settlements were paid by the contractors; the plant and the clean-up are federally funded.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Government and regulators

Press and investigations

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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