It is the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site. And now federal budget cuts known as sequestration may interfere with the cleanup efforts being carried out by the 9,000 men and women who work there. Some Republicans have accused President Barack Obama of exaggerating the impact of recent budget cuts for political reasons, but the impact is real for the 244 Hanford workers who received pink slips on Monday. Another 2,000-plus received furlough notices, meaning they’ll have to spend weeks on unpaid leave.

“These lost jobs and work hours will adversely impact families in the Tri-Cities and will harm economic recovery in the region,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said Monday, according to the Associated Press. “Now is no time to scale back federal commitments to protecting public and environmental health in our state.”

The U.S. Department of Energy, which oversees Hanford, said safety would not be compromised. “While some cleanup activities at Hanford may be impacted as a result of sequestration funding levels, the Department and its contractors will continue to ensure that operations and facilities will be maintained to protect our workforce, the public, and the environment,” spokeswoman Keri Fulton said in an email.

Dave Molnaa, president of the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council, the union that negotiates on behalf of many workers at the site, said radioactive waste won’t get cleaned up any faster with fewer workers.

“I think there are going to be cleanup deadlines missed,” Molnaa said. “In order to get the work done, they need the people to do it.”

Starting during World War II, Hanford made plutonium that went into nuclear bombs — including “Fat Man,” the one that exploded over Nagasaki in 1945. After the end of the Cold War, the site was mostly decommissioned and efforts to clean up millions of gallons of nuclear waste began. Some of the site’s 177 underground storage tanks have been leaking radioactive sludge into the ground.

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