Bidding begins for massive $45 billion contract for Hanford radioactive waste cleanup

The Department of Energy put out a request for bids this week for a massive new contract at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

It is capped at $45 billion for work over 10 years.

That’s a significant jump from the $26.5 billion cap of the proposed contract made when DOE gave a first look at its proposed new contract in February.

It released a draft request for proposals then, with bidding solicited now through a final request for proposals.

The new contract will include operation of the $17 billion vitrification plant, or Waste Treatment Plant, under construction since 2002 to treat radioactive waste in underground tanks. The plant is expected to begin operating at the end of 2023.

It will be the first contract awarded for vitrification plant operations.

The new contract also would roll in the current responsibilities of the current tank waste contract, which is expiring.

DOE earlier had proposed a separate contract just for the work at the tank farms, with a proposed value of up to $13 billion, less than a third of the estimated value of the current expanded contract.

DOE will be restricted from spending more than the $45 billion cap on work by the new contractor, with the cap amount set to allow for any contingencies, which could range from stimulus money being awarded to work needed to address emergencies.

Work also could extend beyond 10 years, including work that DOE orders from the new contractor late in the decade-long contract period.

The proposed new contract will use DOE’s new “end state” contracting model, under which DOE awards a contract and then negotiates specific tasks to be completed.

Currently, Congress is appropriating about $2.5 billion a year for environmental cleanup across the Hanford site.

DOE typically does not comment on pending contracts beyond its prepared announcement.

Proposed contract work

In addition to operating the vitrification plant, the contract put out to bid includes work in the tank farm to pretreat radioactive waste to allow the vit plant to turn it into a stable glass form for disposal. It also includes emptying of leak-prone single-shell waste tanks and closure of emptied tanks.

The current tank farm contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions, employs about 2,450 people.

Hanford has 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous chemical waste stored in underground tanks, some of which have held waste since World War II.

The approximately 580-square-mile Hanford site in Eastern Washington produced about two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program from WWII through the Cold War.

DOE will require the new contractor to subcontract 18% of work to small businesses.

The orders for the tasks to be completed under the contract will be openly negotiated to provide the most reduction of risk and financial liability to DOE and get as much environmental cleanup completed as possible during the length of the contract, according to DOE’s announcement.

A contractor will be selected based on the key personnel selected, with that criterion being more important than past performance and the management approach, which will be considered equal in performance.

DOE also will consider the costs of work and profit proposed by bidders.

Bids for the new Integrated Tank Disposition Contract are due Dec. 20.

The last multi-billion contract DOE awarded for Hanford work was a $10 billion contract to Central Plateau Cleanup Co., which began work about a year ago.

That contract covers much of the environmental cleanup work of the site, with the exception of the management and treatment of Hanford’s tank waste.

This story was originally published October 22, 2021 at 12:21 PM with the headline "Bidding begins for massive $45 billion contract for Hanford radioactive waste cleanup."