town , and those involved in the cleanup say they will need every dollar of the federal stimulus funds . There are still millions of gallons of untreated contaminated groundwater , hundreds of buildings used for plutonium enrichment that need to be torn down and underground tanks that are full of radioactive sludge . The stimulus money will reduce the cleanup time by years , according to Jon Peschong , who oversees the federal project at Hanford . `` It was perfect work , ready to go for the stimulus package , '' Peschong said . `` Each day that passes the conditions worsen -LSB- and -RSB- the receipt of the federal stimulus money allows us to reduce the costs and also allows us to reduce the cleanup footprint much sooner , years sooner . '' The money has also created jobs for about 1,400 people at Hanford , including Joe Gill who manages a team that is tearing down equipment that is heavily contaminated by radiation . Despite the dangers of his job , Gill said it came just at the right time . `` I had managed a production warehouse facility for one of the largest companies in
Hanford Nuclear Site , Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The federal government has set aside nearly $ 2 billion in stimulus funds to clean up Washington state 's decommissioned Hanford nuclear site , once the center of the country 's Cold War plutonium production . That is more stimulus funding than some entire states have received , which has triggered a debate as to whether the money is being properly spent . The facility sprawls across approximately 600 square miles of south-central Washington , an area roughly half the size of Rhode Island . It was built in the 1940s as part of the `` Manhattan Project '' to develop the first atomic weapon during World War II . Millions of dollars and thousands of jobs poured into the remote area about 75 miles east of Yakima where nine nuclear reactors were eventually built . During the Cold War , Hanford became a main source of plutonium production for the nation 's nuclear weapons program . Decades of improper radioactive waste disposal earned Hanford the notorious distinction of being one of the most contaminated nuclear sites in the Western Hemisphere . Today , the Hanford site is a virtual ghost