The 300 Area is part of the Hanford Site in the state of Washington, USA. The area was used for the production of fuel for the reactors and performing research on improving the production process. Today, the buildings remain active as laboratories, workshops, and offices. Most work being done focuses on environmental research.[1] The 300 area is operated by the Battelle Memorial Institute.
The 300 area is a restricted-access area to maintain safety due to the nature of materials routinely handled. The soil around the complex in several locations is contaminated with low-level radiation. There are waste burial grounds to the north with higher level radiation that have had hundreds of thousands of tons of soil removed.
Fluor Hanford, Inc. began the 300 Area Accelerated Closure Plan in 2000 when re-industrialization failed to grow as expected.[1] The facility is in the process of demolition, staff will be moved from the aging World War II era buildings to newly constructed buildings on the PNNL main campus. The move is scheduled to conclude in 2011, moving approximately 1,000 employees. This move is greatly complicated by the fact that the 300 Area houses all of the nuclear and radiological research laboratories.[2] By moving now, rather than the originally planned 2046, estimates place savings of maintaining the outdated facility at $1.5 billion.[1]