Second major Hanford contract extended with 2 days before it expires

The Hanford tank farm contract has been extended for up to a year, the Department of Energy announced Friday.

The extension has an estimated value of almost $630 million.

Washington River Protection Solutions, owned by AECOM and Atkins, was awarded a contract for the work 10 years ago that was set to expire Sunday. It was valued at $7.1 billion when it was awarded.

The contract extension will allow Washington River Protection Solutions to continue operating and maintaining the nuclear reservation’s tank farms, where 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous chemical waste are held in underground tanks.

The waste is left from the past production of plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program and is being stored until the Hanford vitrification plant is ready to start treating it for disposal.

Washington River Protection Solutions employs about 2,300 employees.

DOE plans to request bids for a new tank farm contract of up to 10 years, but has not released a draft or final request for bids yet.

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co., the central Hanford environmental cleanup contractor, also received a one-year contract extension this week.

This story was originally published September 28, 2018 at 5:55 PM.