Liz Mattson is Senior Program Strategist for Hanford Challenge. Liz has been on staff with Hanford Challenge since the organization launched as a spin-off from the Government Accountability Project’s Nuclear Program in 2007.

Liz has worked closely with Hanford workers to address safety and health problems they are facing, particularly from chemical vapors in the tank farms. She talks with state regulatory agencies and site management to influence their approach to safety issues and their response to injured workers with a goal of having workers’ experience respectfully acknowledged and addressed.

She is a strong advocate of working collaboratively to address the problems posed by Hanford. Dealing with decades of contamination will require an intergenerational, multi-stakeholder approach. By building relationships, encouraging openness and trust and working to understand divergent points of view, the broader community of stakeholders will be better equipped to confront the uncertainties and challenges that face remediation efforts.

Liz helped launch the Hanford Forum for Shared Conversation about Challenging Issues at Hanford in 2009, a multi-day regional Hanford stakeholder gathering that brings together a diverse group of people involved in Hanford cleanup. The Forum is designed to build relationships and examine challenges with Hanford cleanup from new angles to find common ground and think outside the box.

Liz is on the board of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability.

Liz cycled off of the Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) in 2022, after 14 years of involvement with the Public Involvement and Communications Committee, the River and Plateau and Tank Waste Committees of the HAB.

Past projects include Inheriting Hanford, a regional Hanford mentorship community, that was designed to empower young people to become dynamic participants in Hanford cleanup.