Fluor Idaho has told local officials in eastern Idaho it could in June or July start paring the workforce for the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory.
Roughly 200 workers could be let go at that point at the facility, which employs about 650 people, Dana Kirkham, CEO for the Regional Economic Development for Eastern Idaho (REDI), said by telephone on Jan. 18. The company might first pursue a voluntary reduction in force, similar to the approach Fluor Idaho is using to reduce its payroll by 50 employees at the entire Idaho Cleanup Project.
Kirkham attended a Jan. 15 meeting between the Energy Department cleanup contractor and representatives from local government, economic development organizations, and regional colleges. The unofficial timeline was shared during the meeting.
The AMWTP opened in 2003 to conduct waste processing required by a 1995 settlement between DOE, the state, and the U.S. Navy over nuclear waste storage in Idaho. The Energy Department said Dec. 5 it intends to close the facility in mid-to-late 2019 after it finishes treating and shipping about 65,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste from the Idaho National Laboratory. The treated sludge waste goes to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.
There were no more details available about further workforce reductions.
The REDI group plans a job fair for AMWTP employees later this year. Kirkham said she hopes many displaced workers might find work at Fluor Marine Propulsion, which in July won a 10-year contract to run the Naval Nuclear Laboratory in the state for the Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command and DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
“All I can say is we are continuing discussions internally on both a treatment schedule for remaining wastes and a staffing plan, so I have no firm details to share at this time,” company spokesman Erik Simpson said in a Monday email. He also said Fluor Idaho accepted applications from 24 of its 1,600 cleanup project employees for the upcoming voluntary separation effective Feb. 18.
An Energy Department spokesperson said the agency “continues to work with the contractor on developing a path forward to complete the remaining work scope for AMWTP.”
Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper, who has urged DOE to keep the facility open, is out of the office for several days, a spokesman said by email Wednesday.
Fluor’s five-year, $1.5 billion Idaho Cleanup Project Contract runs through May 2021.
