Energy chooses BWXT-led team for $45B Hanford tank management contract
Getty Images News / Jeff T. Green
By
Ross Wilkers
Hanford's network of underground tanks hold around 56 million gallons of radioactive waste after four decades of nuclear production.
The Energy Department has chosen a joint venture led by BWX Technologies for a potential $45 billion contract to manage the cleanup of liquid waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
Amentum and Fluor also are members of the Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure venture that will work at the decommissioned nuclear production complex for up to 10 years, Energy said Thursday.
The team will be responsible for managing underground radioactive waste tank farms, the closures of tanks, and take on the running of a waste treatment and immobilization plant built by Bechtel.
Those tanks currently hold around 56 million gallons of radioactive waste, a result of almost four decades of plutonium production at Hanford until its final reactor shut down in 1987. Hanford was first stablished in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project to research, develop and produce the world's first nuclear weapons.
Energy issued the final solicitation in October 2021 to recompete the tank management work currently performed by Washington River Protection Solutions, another joint venture led by Amentum.
The new contract also covers the design, construction and operation of waste receiving facilities and treatment capabilities.