After court rules for rival, losing bidder tries to keep lawsuit over Hanford award on life support

Seeking a hearing and a restraining order, an AtkinsRéalis-led team made a flurry of motions in federal court aimed at reversing a ruling that cleared the way for a rival to take over liquid-radioactive-waste cleanup at the Hanford Site.

Hanford Tank Disposition Alliance (HTDA), comprising Atkins, Jacobs Solutions, Dallas, and Westinghouse, on Wednesday asked for another oral argument in the case in the Court of Federal Claims. That was five days after the team filed a motion for reconsideration, which if granted by the court could result in a new trial. Also on Sept. 20, the team filed for a temporary restraining order. 

On Sept. 9, the court upheld the Department of Energy’s February re-award of the 10-year, $45-billion Integrated Tank Disposition Contract to the BWX Technologies-led Hanford Tank Waste Operations and Closure (H2C). DOE first awarded the business to H2C in April 2023, triggering a lawsuit by HTDA that led to a second competition that produced essentially the same result as the first competition.

It was not clear at deadline Friday for Weapons Complex Monitor if DOE had since Sept. 9 given H2C notice to proceed with the takeover of the liquid waste work from incumbent Washington River Protection Solutions, an Amentum-led team that also includes Atkins. The parties made all of the motions under seal, keeping the new arguments, and evidence, if any, out of public view.

A DOE spokesperson told the Monitor that DOE has not issued a notice to proceed with ITDC. BWX Technologies did not immediately reply to requests for comment on Friday.

In one of the only public filings in the case since the judgment in the H2C’s favor, the court told The Department of Justice, representing the Department of Energy in the case, to “indicate the status of the procurement” in its response to the losing bidder’s motion for reconsideration.

The government filed that response on Tuesday, along with a response to the motion for a temporary restraining order. Both are under seal. H2C also replied Tuesday to both motions, also under seal.

Meanwhile, Amentum was scheduled to merge Friday with Jacobs’ Critical Mission Solutions and cyber businesses, which would appear to assure the combined company, the publicly traded Amentum Holdings, of a role on the new Hanford liquid-waste contract, no matter the outcome of the HTDA lawsuit.

In addition to managing Hanford’s underground liquid-waste tanks, the Integrated Tank Disposition Contract calls for operating the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant that Bechtel National built to solidify a portion of Hanford’s less radioactive liquid waste. The plant was scheduled to open in 2025.

There are about 56 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste at Hanford, leftover from making plutonium for nuclear weapons during World War II and the Cold War.