Washington Closure honored as global finalist

Washington Closure Hanford was honored as one of two finalists for the Project Management Institute’s 2015 Global Project of the Year at the organization’s Global Congress this past weekend.

The overall winner was a project to transport massive oil refinery coke drums in the Los Angeles, Calif., area. Washington Closure shares finalist status with an Oregon project to overhaul bridges.

“Tremendous progress has been made in cleanup up the Columbia River Corridor area of the Hanford Site due to WCH’s dedication to performance, safety and quality in delivering this project ahead of schedule and under budget,” said Stacy Charboneau, manager of the Department of Energy Richland Operations Office, in a statement.

Since 2005 Washington Closure has transported more than 11 million tons of contaminated material away from the Columbia River to a lined landfill it operates in central Hanford. It has completed complex projects, including removing an underground test reactor and a concrete vault use to store highly contaminated waste. Each weighed about 2.2 million pounds.

“To accomplish so much under the challenging conditions they face every day is a tribute to the project management tools and skills our workforce applied to their work every day,” said Scott Sax, Washington Closure president. “These tools and a teamwork approach by our employees, DOE customer, local communities and regulators alike, played a key role in our clean up successes.”

This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Washington Closure honored as global finalist."