The incoming Bechtel National prime for the Departments of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico expects to get most of its hiring done by mid-January, according to the new contractor website.
“We are working diligently to complete the majority of the hiring activities by mid-January and declare readiness to perform operations by late January,” Bechtel’s Tularosa Basin Range Services doing business as Salado Isolation Mining Contractors said in a recent frequently-asked-questions post on its website.
The incoming prime said it started its 90-transition on Nov. 11 from the current management and operations contractor, Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership. Transition should wrap up around Feb. 9.
Incumbent employees from Nuclear Waste Partnership will receive equivalent base pay for at least the first year of the new contract, according to Bechtel.
The Bechtel entity, which has Los Alamos Technical Associates as a team contractor, anticipates no major changes from the current scope of work and it also anticipates hiring most union and non-supervisory employees. The company will abide by the union bargaining agreements in place, and site seniority lists, and applicable law, the new contractor said.
“Incumbent employees will be crosswalked to positions that are substantially equivalent to their current positions,” according to the website.
The new contractor group will also “carefully consider” hiring supervisors working for the incumbent “wherever possible” according to the post.
Vacancies that pop up during the three-month transition will be filled in accordance with the preference in-hiring contract requirements, Bechtel said.
There are about 1,400 employees altogether doing work for WIPP at the salt mine and at the transuranic waste generator sites, according to a spokesperson.
