This is the newest Hanford contractor. It could employ up to 4,600 Tri-Citians

Amentum is the newest large contractor at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

Aecom’s management services sector, which performed contracted government work, has been sold to American Securities, a private equity firm, and Lindsay Goldberg, a private investment firm, for about $2.4 billion.

They have renamed the Aecom division they purchased as Amentum, according to an announcement this week.

No change in day-to-day operations is expected, according to Amentum.

Amentum could employ nearly 4,600 workers at Hanford, at least for a time, under three different Department of Energy contracts.

The Hanford tank farm contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions, with about 2,350 employees, is now primarily owned by Amentum.

The contract awarded in 2008 to an Aecom-led team is expiring in September, with a new contract award yet to be announced.

Amentum also may take over central Hanford site environmental cleanup work as the CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. contract expires. The contract now employs about 1,700 workers.

In December, a new 10-year contract worth up to $10 billion was awarded to Aecom, along with Fluor Federal Services and Atkins Nuclear Secured.

However, the bid award has been protested to the Government Accountability Office, which has until May 13 to file a ruling.

Aecom Hanford workers

Amentum also has about 550 employees at the Hanford vitrification plant. Aecom was the primary subcontractor to Bechtel National for construction and startup of the plant.

Tank farm workers were told Tuesday by Washington River Protection Solutions chief executive John Eschenberg that the change to Amentum will not affect the contractor’s staffing or how it operates.

Management and employees under other Amentum Hanford nuclear reservation contracts or subcontracts also are not expected to change.

Amentum employs more than 20,000 people in 48 states and 28 foreign countries and territories. Its two owners, equal partners in the firm, are focused on both organic growth and long-term expansion, according to an Amentum news release.

“As a focused, stand-alone company, Amentum will be more agile and better positioned to deliver enhanced capabilities and innovation,” said Russell Triedman, a partner at Lindsay Goldberg.

Amentum is a Greek word for a leather strap attached to a javelin used in ancient athletics to make it travel farther and straighter. It is symbolic of Amentum’s approach to work, Eschenberg said.