Just got my hands on a list of the "Top 10 Bailout Money Recipients" detailing the companies that have received the largest grants from ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) funds.

Topping the list is an organization called Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC (SRNS). SRNS operates the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina, which–get this–manages the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile. (Somehow I don’t think all the nation’s weapons are in Aiken, however.) This group received a cool $1.5 billion in hush money grants ($1,407,839,884 to be precise).

Coming in second but still topping the billion mark at $1,359,715,229 was CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company, which is tasked with cleaning up the Central Plateau of the Hanford Site in Washington, reportedly the largest clean-up project in the U.S. (So what are they cleaning up and who made the mess to begin with, pray tell?)

There’s a huge drop-off in third place, with UT-Battelle LLC receiving a paltry $437,675,000 for running the Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP).

Most of the top ten recipients received their funds from the Department of Energy, and most were engaged in clean-up or cover-up operations. Take as an example number seven, Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Y-12 ($270M). Y-12 operates the National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where it is engaged in reducing risk from "Cold War legacies" through demolition and disposal. (Demolition and disposal of what, nerve gas or other agents?)

There are probably some interesting tales to be uncovered in this list of the top ten, but I doubt that any media group will bother to do the investigating necessary. They’re too busy angling for their own bailout from Uncle Sam, so no one has to pay off the media to be hush.