The US Department of Energy (DoE) has started a second round of talks with companies competing for contracts totalling $2.7 billion for the clean-up of a 210 square mile area of the department’s Hanford site. No information was available on the number of bidders involved.
DoE expects to award the Columbia River Corridor Closure Contract soon. The work is part of the department’s accelerated clean-up programme, which calls for completion of the two-phased river corridor in 12 years. Clean-up of the entire Hanford site, including the vitrification of millions of gallons of liquefied radioactive waste, is to be completed in 2035 under the accelerated plan.
DoE has estimated the value of phase I, which will be carried out under a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract, at $1.5 billion. The work will include the remediation of the plutonium production area except for the K and N reactors and the demolition of some of the buildings in the production and fuel manufacturing areas. DoE said: “During phase I, 267 waste sites, 45 waste burial grounds, 31 buildings, and four reactors will be remediated.” The phase II contract has an estimated value of $1.2 billion. That work will be carried out under a fixed-price contract. Remediation of the K and N reactors and of the production reactor area will be completed during Phase II. DoE said that this phase will require remediating 255 waste sites, four waste burial grounds, 230 buildings and three reactors.
