60 workers lose jobs at Hanford nuclear site. Here’s what is changing

A major Hanford nuclear site contractor for the Department of Energy is laying off 60 employees after a hiring freeze as the mix of skills needed for various environmental cleanup projects changes.

Bob Wilkinson, Central Plateau Cleanup Co. president, told employees in a memo that “despite all our efforts to limit the number of affected employees through attrition and our hiring freeze over the past six months, this step was essential to ensure we’re positioned to continue fulfilling our cleanup mission.”

Much of the focus at the Hanford nuclear reservation now is on the upcoming treatment of 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored in underground tanks.

CPCCo. is focused on other environmental cleanup at Hanford, including treating contaminated groundwater, tearing down old, contaminated structures, preparing to remove capsules of radioactive cesium and storage from a concrete pool, and digging up contaminated soil and debris from waste sites that do not meet modern environmental standards.

In August, CPCCo. workers finished filling the K West Reactor Basin with 6,500-cubic yards of concrete-like grout after it was emptied of water, eliminating a risk to the nearby Columbia River. It was the last reactor basin used to cool irradiated uranium fuel to be emptied.

Hanford has 13,000 workers, based on the number of current security badges, and Central Plateau employed 1,461 workers at the end of September.

The layoffs were announced on Oct. 1 at the start of a new fiscal year for the federal government.

Many of the 60 workers receiving layoff notices may be able to find jobs with other Hanford contractors as employment is expected to remain stable or possibly increase slightly over the next few years.

Both Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council and nonunion workers were laid off, with their jobs ending Oct. 14.

“These choices are never made lightly, and we understand the deep impact they have on our fellow workers, their families and our entire team,” Wilkinson said his message to staff.

The 580-square-mile Hanford site adjacent to Richland, Wash., produced about two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program from World War II through the Cold War.

The nation is currently spending $3 billion a year on environmental cleanup there.