Washington River Protection Solutions has been awarded a contract extension of up to a year for management of the radioactive waste storage tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
The Department of Energy announced the extension Friday, two days before the expiration of WRPS’ 10-year contract.
The contract extension, which will expire Sept. 30, 2019, is valued at an estimated $629.5 million. The original contract was valued at $7.1 billion when it was awarded.
Washington River Protection Solutions, a partnership of AECOM and Atkins, is charged with management of 177 tanks that in total hold 56 million gallons of chemical and radioactive waste. The material is the byproduct of decades of plutonium production at Hanford for the nation’s nuclear arsenal.
“This extension will allow the continuation of tank operations activities and ensure that DOE receives uninterrupted high-quality support for work essential to the overall success of the Office of River Protection mission,” DOE said in a brief statement.
The Energy Department plans to award a follow-on 10-year Hanford Tank Waste Cleanup Contract, but has not yet released a draft request for proposals.
The central Hanford cleanup contract held by CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. also was set to expire at the end of September. The Energy Department last week awarded a one-year extension to that contract, which was valued at $4.5 billion when it was awarded and later had $1.3 billion of economic stimulus work added under the Obama administration.
On Thursday, DOE released a draft request for proposals for a follow-on contract, the Hanford Central Plateau Cleanup Contract. The proposed 10-year contract has an estimated value of $6.5 billion.
