With both bid protests now rejected by the Government Accountability Office, a Bechtel affiliate said Friday it is starting its 90-day transition to take over operation of the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.
Tularosa Basin Range Services doing business as Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, and headed by Ken Harrawood, said in a press release DOE has authorized the start of a 90-day transition to from Amentum-led prime Nuclear Waste Partnership at the disposal site for transuranic defense waste.
Salado, which includes Los Alamos Technical Associates as a New Mexico-based small business teaming subcontractor, could take over around Feb. 9, 2023 at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).
“The WIPP and its workforce have a proud legacy of supporting our nation’s nuclear cleanup mission, and we’re excited to begin a transition to ensure we achieve safe and productive operations for today and well into the future,” said Harrawood, Salado’s president and program manager.
Harrawood has logged over 36 years of management experience in hazardous waste and nuclear operations, according to the recently-established Salado website. This includes stints in the Navy’s nuclear power program, at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project at the Idaho National Laboratory and the transuranic waste program at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
“We are looking forward to working collaboratively with the DOE, incumbent employees, regulators, and our local community and stakeholders during this transition phase so that we maintain continuity from the first day we assume responsibility of WIPP,” Harrawood said in the release.
Harrawood is backed by a group of vice presidents —Ralph Musick, (capital asset projects) with prior postings at the Nevada National Security Site as the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site; Mike Rocha (baseline integration) whose financial experience includes Bechtel’s construction of two new Vogtle nuclear reactors in Georgia; Ted Sherry (performance improvement) former manager with National Nuclear Security Administration who has worked for Bechtel at Pantex and Y-12; Tammy Hobbes (operations), a veteran of the DOE cleanup project in Idaho; Mike Marksberry (mining) who has led big underground mines in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom; and Bret Clausen (safety and health) an old hand within DOE, the Department of Defense and commercial ventures.
Salado was awarded the potential 10-year, $3 billion by DOE in July, which was challenged by groups led by Huntington Ingalls Industries as well as Westinghouse. Both Big protests were denied by the Government Accountability Office as being without merit.
