Bechtel National, Inc., along with prime subcontractor Washington Group International, has been chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of River Protection to design, build and commission a radioactive waste treatment plant on a 65-acre site on the central plateau of Hanford. The plant will treat and immobilize liquid radioactive waste into a stable glass form.  The waste, currently stored in 177 huge underground tanks at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington, will be treated and converted to the glass waste form using a process known as vitrification.  Once immobilized, the high-level radioactive waste will be shipped to a federal geologic repository for permanent disposal.  The low-level radioactive waste will be disposed at Hanford. The contract was awarded in December 2000.