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The Energy Department is warning that automatic federal budget cuts, known as sequestration, could delay the clean-up of leaking storage tanks of radioactive waste at Hanford.

Deputy Energy Department Secretary Daniel Poneman says his agency’s budget is being reduced by almost $1.9 billion.

In Tuesday, Poneman wrote that funding for contractors at Hanford could be cut by about $79 million, including the furlough or layoffs of 1,900 contractor employees as early as April 1, 2013.

“While the Department remains committed to its clean-up effort at Hanford, this decreased funding and the resulting contractor employment actions may curtail our progress related to closing the aging — and in some cases leaking — single shell tanks storing over 25 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste at the Hanford site,” wrote Poneman.

The Energy Department recently revealed that at least six single wall tanks at Hanford are leaking radioactive waste at the rate of as much as 1,000 gallons a year.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee plans to tour the Hanford nuclear reservation on Wednesday with officials from the Energy Department and state Ecology Department.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.