The Department of Energy cleared a transition of Savannah River National Laboratory operations to Battelle Savannah River Alliance starting Feb. 16, the contractor announced Thursday.
The notice means the Battelle team will take over as manager of the laboratory in mid-June from Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, which is the current operator of the entire DOE Savannah River Site. Savannah River National Laboratory is now being managed independently of the site.
Battelle announced the DOE notice in a press release. Battelle already manages several national laboratories for DOE. Its team at Savannah River has five regional universities—Clemson, the Georgia Institute of Technology, South Carolina State, the University of Georgia and University of South Carolina. Battelle’s small business partners are Longenecker & Associates and TechSource.
In December the DOE Office of Environmental Management awarded the Battelle Savannah River Alliance a contract for up to 10 years and $3.8 billion, including options. The contract includes a five-year base with five one-year options.
In its release, Battelle said the current laboratory director, Vahid Majidi, will be staying on as director. “Dr. Majidi is a decorated former member of the senior executive service and senior intelligence service with direct reporting responsibilities to the U.S. Secretary of Defense, U.S. Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Battelle said in the release.
The DOE put the standalone lab operations contract on the street in June after deciding it wanted academia to play a larger role in laboratory research.
Savannah River National Laboratory employs about 1,000 people, and conducts research and development for DOE and other federal agencies.
