Layoff notices will be delivered this week to up to 60 workers at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant as progress is made in completing much of the remaining engineering, procurement, and construction at some plant facilities.
The facilities nearing completion are needed for the Waste Treatment Plant to begin converting low-activity radioactive waste at Hanford into a glass form for disposal as soon as 2022. Employees losing their jobs are in support functions such as business services, project controls, and organizational effectiveness.
“The WTP Project team will work with those employees whose assignments are ending to identify potential opportunities on other projects,” said George Rangel, spokesman for Bechtel National, which is building the Waste Treatment Plant.
The vitrification plant project now has about 2,750 workers.
Hanford officials expect to complete construction of the Waste Treatment Plant’s Low-Activity Waste Facility at the plant as soon as June. The Analytical Laboratory is 98 percent complete and about 20 support facilities also are largely finished, with some portions of the Analytical Laboratory and support facilities undergoing systems testing and startup activities.
In total, the Waste Treatment Plant will vitrify up to 56 million gallons of chemical and radioactive waste now stored in underground tanks at Hanford. The waste is a byproduct of decades of plutonium production at the Washington state facility. Under a federal court order, treatment of both low-activity and high-level waste must be underway by 2036.
