Oregon Public Broadcasting

One Northwest energy expert says if Steven Chu becomes the next Energy Secretary it could be positive for the cleanup of the Hanford nuclear reservation. Chu is thought to be Barack Obama’s pick for Secretary of Energy.

Dave Sjoding is a renewable energy specialist with Washington State University. He says Chu should work well with the national labs in the Northwest trying to solve complex problems at Hanford.

Dave Sjoding: "He understands national labs and how they work and that certainly carries over to the whole effort we have at Hanford. So clearly this is an exciting appointment."

Sjoding says Chu will likely work hard to push renewable fuel technologies.

Chu won the Nobel Prize in physics while at Stanford.  Now he’s the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Under him, the lab has focused on researching alternative energy.