Tri-Cities company awarded $13 million Hanford nuclear reservation contract

A $13 million contract has been awarded to Fowler General Construction of Richland to build a new water treatment plant at Hanford to support treatment of radioactive waste.

The plant will be needed as the nuclear reservation’s vitrification plant begins treating waste now held in underground tanks by a federal court deadline of the end of 2023.

An uninterrupted supply of water will be needed once the melters at the vit plant are turned on and begin operating continually until they need replacement, said Mat Irwin, the Department of Energy Hanford deputy assistant manager for the vit plant.

The melters will turn waste left from the past production of plutonium at Hanford for the nation’s nuclear weapons program into a stable glass form for disposal.

The new 10,000-square-foot water treatment plant will use a process called hollow fiber microfiltration that lets water molecules through, while leaving bacteria and other contaminants behind

The treatment method improves safety by not using chlorine gas.

The contract was awarded by Mission Support Alliance, the DOE Hanford contractor for site services, including utilities.