Washington Closure Hanford on Monday transferred the last of its Hanford Site field cleanup work to CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. About 300 workers transferred with the projects to CH2M Hill or its subcontractors. Washington Closure, the Hanford River Corridor Closure prime contractor for 11 years, peaked at more than 1,200 workers in 2012 when it had American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. The end of its field work as of this week will drop its employee count to just under 100. That number is expected to fall further through the coming month to about 30 employees when its contract ends Sept. 30. The remaining 30 employees will continue to work for several months in a contract closeout office. The work was added to the scope of CH2M Hill’s contract, which expires in September 2018.
The 300 workers joining CH2M Hill or its subcontractors will continue to work on the last two field projects handed over by Washington Closure: completion of the high-hazard 618-10 Burial Ground remediation and operation of the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF), the central Hanford lined landfill for mixed low-level radioactive waste. ERDF is available to all Hanford cleanup contractors. With much of the river corridor completed, less waste is being hauled to the landfill, but its use should increase as work ramps up on central Hanford cleanup. And
About 58 nonunion workers joined CH2M Hill on Monday, along with 87 workers represented by the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council. About 65 building trades workers who worked for Washington Closure will work for CH2M Hill through subcontractors. In addition, roughly 90 Washington Closure subcontractor workers, including those at ERDF, are now assigned to CH2M Hill.
Washington Closure has been planning the ramp down in employment over the last three years as projects were completed. Almost 95 percent of employees whose jobs ended during that period were placed in new jobs, including at Hanford or at projects elsewhere led by Washington Closure owners AECOM, Bechtel, and CH2M Hill. Most of the workers who will leave Washington Closure in the final month of its contract have jobs lined up or plan to retire, but about 12 workers are still seeking jobs, said Washington Closure spokesman Peter Bengtson.
Washington Closure’s original 10-year contract was extended for a year through fiscal 2016 to work mostly on two challenging projects: the 618-10 Burial Ground and the 324 Building, including the highly radioactive waste spill beneath it. The 324 Building and 21 employees assigned to the project were transferred to CH2M Hill in April. CH2M Hill is reviewing the plan developed for 324 Building cleanup under Washington Closure.
At the 618-10 Burial Ground, CH2M Hill still must remove 14 vertically buried pipes filled with waste from Hanford’s days as a plutonium production site for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. They were left for last because they were made of thick-walled steel. It also will finish loading out the waste from 80 vertical pipe units augured by Washington Closure. In addition, CH2M Hill will be responsible for digging up the last drums of waste buried in trenches close to vertical pipe units, which cannot be done until the last of the units are removed. It then will backfill and revegetate the burial ground. With projections that the work could take seven years, it would not be completed before CH2M Hill’s contract expires.
“CH2M Hill appreciates the confidence DOE has in our ability to complete the remaining River Corridor Closure Contract scope,” CH2M Hill said in a statement. “We would like to congratulate Washington Closure Hanford on its successful execution of river corridor cleanup, which significantly advanced Hanford’s mission.” The Washington Closure employees transferring to CH2M Hill and its subcontractors have a strong record of safety and project excellence, CH2M Hill said.
Washington Closure cleaned up 576 waste sites as of July, demolished 324 buildings, hauled 11.6 million tons of debris and contaminated soil to ERDF, and cocooned two former plutonium production reactors over its 11 years as a Department of Energy contractor. In cocooning, reactors are torn down to little more than their core, sealed up and reroofed to let radiation decay over 70 years. Washington Closure’s initial $1.8 billion contract increased to a value of about $3 billion over the life of the contract. The work scope grew by roughly $600 million as some projects proved more difficult or required substantially more remediation than anticipated. In addition, DOE added about $400 million of additional work to the contract. Washington Closure would have liked to finish up the remainder of the river corridor projects in progress, but has worked hard to turn over those projects in the best shape possible to CH2M Hill, Bengtson said. “We’re giving PRC (CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co.) some great workers who performed really well,” he said.
