For 32-year-old Robert Valdez, one of 400 new workers already added to the 10,000 who work on the cleanup, it's an opportunity he said was life-changing.

"I'm making pretty close to $10 an hour more here, just to start, plus the benefits," said Valdez, who has two children. 

The federal government now spends about $2 billion each year at Hanford, or roughly one-third of the total nuclear cleanup budget, to rid the site of radioactive and toxic waste.

Since 1989, 20 tons of leftover plutonium has been converted to a safe, stable form. About 2,300 tons of spent nuclear fuel has been moved away from the Columbia River. Five of nine nuclear reactors have been decommissioned and demolished to just shells, and liquid waste has been removed from 177 leaky underground tanks that threaten the river.