About 45 non-manual workers at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant will be told next week that their jobs are ending anytime from late August through October. The layoffs are part of a change in the mix of workers needed as the vitrification plant project “is reaching a transition point as we drive toward completing the Low Activity Waste Facility, Balance of Facilities and Analytical Laboratory and shift our emphasis to startup and commissioning,” said Peggy McCullough, Bechtel project director, in a message to employees at the end of their work week Friday. “This is a normal evolution in the life of a project as we near completion of the engineering, procurement and construction phases,” the message said.
The layoffs will be offset with hiring for positions focused on commissioning. About 100 new positions have been filled this year and about 200 additional positions could be filled by the end of the calendar year. Most of the workers who will be laid off in the coming months are in engineering, after Bechtel has finished some of the more complex work scope in the Low-Activity Waste Facility, Balance of Facilities, and Analytical Laboratory, McCullough told employees. Some positions also may be cut in project services – which includes workers other than those assigned to engineering, procurement, and construction – to improve efficiencies.
