[doug_durham]

They really weren't cheap. The costs were just pushed to the future. It's estimated that it will take between $16.8 billion and $550 billion to clean up the Hanford site. The Santa Susana facility where Apollo rockets were tested is going to cost billions to clean up (there are other things contributing to the cost there).

[virtuallynathan]

I’ve heard stories from people who have worked at Hanford, and it seems like a lot of that money is being squandered. Excess caution, basically everything is radioactive waste, and just overall wasteful spending for decades.

[zaroth]

Isn’t that exactly the point?

“Clean up” is clearly a euphemism for some sort of money funnel.

Hanford.gov even readily admits this!

“In April 2009, the Hanford Site received a nearly $2 billion in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Contractors quickly hired thousands of new employees for temporary stimulus jobs in environmental cleanup.”

[SJC_Hacker]

Hanford was used for two decades after the Manhattan Project, so I wouldn't peg it for the full the cost of cleanup