40+ workers laid off immediately at Hanford nuclear site

The Hanford nuclear site’s support services contractor laid off about 40 nonunion workers on Monday.

Hanford Mission Integration Solutions notified them on Jan. 19 that it was their last day on the job and gave them two weeks of pay in lieu of notice of the layoff.

“This decision was made with care, and we are grateful for their service to HMIS and the Hanford site,” the contractor said in a statement.

A review of employment, given current and future work expectations, concluded that the workforce was larger than needed as responsibilities are consolidated and processes streamlined, according to HMIS.

HMIS had employed about 2,000 workers before the layoff of about 2% of its workforce.

A total of about 13,000 are employed at Hanford, mostly by Department of Energy contractors and their subcontractors, as about $3 billion is spent annually on environmental cleanup and related work.

The Hanford nuclear site was used from World War II through the Cold War to produce about two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program.

HMIS — which is owned by Leidos, Centerra and Parsons — serves as the DOE landlord for the 580-square-mile Hanford nuclear site in Eastern Washington adjacent to Richland.

It provides support services across the site for other contractors and DOE, including security, fire and emergency services, land management, information technology, utilities, roadwork and management of the HAMMER training center.

It also assists DOE in soliciting and administering federal small business contracts awarded by DOE at Hanford.

HMIS is supporting laid-off employees by offering severance pay for those eligible and assistance finding new jobs. It will work closely with Tri-Cities-area community resources to provide additional support and transition services, it said.