Bechtel National’s $14.9-billion contract to build the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state was updated last month to keep the company on the job into September 2024, which is still before before the plant is expected to start solidifying low-level radioactive waste.
An Aug. 31 contract expiration date is listed in the latest major contract summary from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, posted July 18, but a DOE spokesperson said Tuesday a change order was issued June 21 telling Bechtel to a High-Level Waste Facility in a direct-feed configuration.
The Government Accountability Office reported in June 2022 that DOE was negotiating a 16-month extension for Bechtel. At that time, DOE and Bechtel were still hoping to start Direct-Feed-Low-Activity Waste Facilities at the vitrification plant by the end of 2023. The updated target is now 2025.
Meanwhile, back east, a DOE official confirmed by email Monday that Centerra finished its transition into its new paramilitary security contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
The 60-day transition ended July 14, the spokesperson said. Centerra is now in its new 10-year, $1-billion contract to protect people, structures, secrets and special nuclear materials at the 310-square-mile federal complex near the Georgia state line.
In May, the Government Accountability Office rejected a bid protest by Securitas-led SRS Critical Infrastructure Security, which back in June 2021 appeared to have successfully unseated incumbent Centerra after winning the security contract that February. That award was eventually undone following contract challenges.
Centerra’s just-expired contract started in October 2009 and was by the end worth $1.6-billion thanks to a series of extensions during contract challenges.
Editor’s note: The article was modified at 8:45 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday to reflect that DOE has extended the Bechtel contract.
