US says largest solar project could be built on Energy Dept land

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The largest solar U.S. project and other clean energy infrastructure could be built on re-purposed land owned by the Department of Energy, including part of a site contaminated during the production Cold War-era atomic bombs, the agency said on Friday.

The DOE said it has identified about 70,000 acres (283.28 square kilometers) it owns that could eventually be home to clean energy projects including solar, wind and nuclear power.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will present the Cleanup to Clean Energy plan to help achieve President Joe Biden’s clean electricity goals at event later on Friday in Washington.

The event will include developers of renewable power and nuclear power, involving participants with experience implementing successful clean electricity projects generating at least 200 megawatts, the department said.

The DOE identified the following sites for potential development:

-Hanford Site, Richland, Washington

-Idaho National Laboratory (NYSE:), 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 to produce plutonium and uranium for atomic bombs under the Manhattan Project.

Hanford is now decommissioned and too contaminated for public use. Decontaminating leaks of highly radioactive waste and other pollution at the site has already cost billions of dollars and will for many years.

There were no other immediate details on the exact place or timing of potential projects.

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