The Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved its portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, including $6.4 billion for cleanup at Hanford and other Department of Energy nuclear weapons sites.

The legislation now goes to the full Senate.

The House Appropriations Committee has approved $500 million, and the amounts approved by the full House and Senate will have to be reconciled by a conference committee.

DOE would have the authority to allocate the money for different projects, but the Senate wants the money to be used to shrink the contaminated portions of nuclear sites. That would reduce overhead costs and free them for other uses, such as energy parks to research and demonstrate new energy technologies.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who worked to get the funding included in the Senate bill, has said the money will help put workers back on the job at Hanford and speed cleanup. The bill is estimated by the Senate to result in more than $8 billion in life-cycle cost savings.