ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The U.S. Energy Department’s top official at the Hanford Site in Washington state has a full plate these days.
That includes preparing for potential turnover of four top contractors and gearing up for operation of the $17 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) by 2023, Brian Vance, who manages both the Hanford Office of River Protection and the Richland Operations Office, said during a presentation Thursday at DOE’s National Cleanup Workshop.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management issued its latest procurement schedule in May. At the time, the nuclear cleanup office said it could issue four Hanford contracts, each potentially worth $1 billion or more, by the end of November. However, incumbents for two of the major contracts – management of radioactive tank waste and Central Plateau remediation – have since been extended as far out as September 2020.
The contracts are:
- An award worth up to $6 billion for the Hanford Mission Essential Services Contract, how held by Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance, which has an extension until Nov. 25. The contract covers site-wide contract for various support operations, ranging from managing the vehicle fleet to electric utilities and landlord-type services.
- Up to $15 billion for the Tank Closure Contract. The incumbent is AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) for management of roughly 56 million gallons of chemical and radioactive waste in underground tanks.
- A contract worth up to $12 billion for the Central Plateau Cleanup, now held by Jacobs subsidiary CH2M, which involves protecting the Columbia River and tearing down the Plutonium Finishing Plant; and
- A potential $1 billion deal to run the 222-S Laboratory, where duties are now split between a Veolia subsidiary, which provides laboratory analysis and testing services, and tank contractor WRPS for maintenance, support services, and other work.
Vance has managed both Hanford offices, with 400 federal employees and 8,000 contract workers and a combined budget of roughly $2.4 billion, following Richland Operations Manager Doug Shoop’s retirement in February.
