30 May (NucNet): The US Department of Energy has awarded a contract worth a potential 7.1 billion US dollars (4.5 billion euro) over 10 years to Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) to store, retrieve and treat radioactive waste held in tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
WRPS, comprised of Washington Group International and EnergySolutions Federal Services, will provide the services for five years, the DOE said. The department then has the option to extend the contract for five more years. Areva is a subcontractor for the project.
CH2M Hill Hanford Group now manages Hanford’s 177 aging underground tanks, which contain about 200,000 litres of radioactive and chemical waste from more than three decades of plutonium production.
CH2M Hill and WRPS will begin a transition period on 1 July 2008, with the new contractor taking over the tanks on 1 October.
The 940-square-kilometre Hanford Site played a pivotal role in the nation’s defence for more than 40 years, beginning in the 1940s with the Manhattan Project.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
DOE Supports Preservation Of Manhattan Project Reactor (World Nuclear Review No. 11, 14 March 2008)
DOE Accelerates Clean-Up At US Hanford Site (World Nuclear Review No. 11, 14 March 2008)
