A joint venture between Fluor (NYSE: FLR) and a BWX Technologies (NYSE: BWXT) subsidiary has won a potential 10-year, $13 billion contract from the Department of Energy for environmental cleanup services at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
Hanford Works Restoration will lead work under the Tank Closure Contract and collaborate with professional services companies DBD and Intera to carry out the project, Fluor said Monday.
“Fluor began its 13-year tenure at Hanford in 1996 with a contract to manage most of the site’s cleanup work and we have been an integrated part of the community ever since. We look forward to working with the incumbent Tank Farm employees, DOE, the regulators, and other Hanford contractors to shift to a unified closure mentality and safely accelerate the completion timeline,” said Tom D’Agostino, president of Fluor’s government group.
HWR will support operations and maintenance of single shell and double shell tank farms at the site, including volume management and secondary waste treatment facilities and the completion of construction and operations.
Additionally, the JV will provide maintenance to equipment necessary to pretreat and feed low-level waste to the low-activity waste verification facility and a single-shell tank waste remediation and closure as part of cleanup efforts.
Established in 1943, the Hanford Site's original mission was to produce plutonium for national defense. Operations to make the raw materials for nuclear weapons continued until the late 1980s. In 1989, Hanford's mission shifted from production of weapons material to waste management and environmental cleanup.
“We’re pleased that DOE has given us the opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new end-state contract approach to accelerate closing Hanford’s tanks and reduce DOE’s liability,” added D’Agostino.
“This contract award demonstrates that BWXT’s nuclear operations and waste management capabilities are key differentiators for Hanford’s programs that are of critical importance to the nation and the state of Washington," said President and CEO Rex Geveden.
