WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company has been selected as the plateau remediation contractor for DOE’s Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State.  The contract is a cost-plus award-fee contract valued at approximately $4.5 billion over ten years (a five-year base period with the option to extend it for another five years).

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company is a limited liability company formed by CH2M Hill Constructors, Inc.  The team also includes AREVA Federal Services, LLC; East Tennessee Materials & Energy Corporation, Inc.; and Fluor Federal Services, Inc. as major subcontractors.

“One of the Department’s most important long-term missions is ensuring the Hanford Site is cleaned up to a level that is protective of the environment and the surrounding community,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman said.  “Working with CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company, the Department will continue its momentum to safely clean up and restore the environment of the Central Plateau to protect the Columbia River.”

The Hanford Plateau Remediation Contract (PRC) will advance the cleanup of the central portion of the Hanford Site, known as the 200 Area or the Central Plateau, which once housed five chemical separations buildings and other facilities that separated and recovered plutonium and other materials for use in nuclear weapons.  The scope of the PRC contract includes completion of the Plutonium Finishing Plant project; characterization of facilities and waste sites; disposal activities related to non-tank farm waste; environmental surveillance and maintenance; groundwater monitoring and remediation; environmental remediation; and development of documents for regulatory and other decisions covering groundwater, soil, and facilities.

The PRC is the second of three new major prime contracts to be awarded for cleanup at the Hanford Site in 2008 as part of the Department’s Central Plateau acquisition strategy, which calls for contracts covering tank farm operations and closure, waste and facility disposition on the Central Plateau, and mission support.  The Tank Operations Contract was awarded in May 2008.  The PRC also includes a portion of the scope of work currently performed under the Project Hanford Management Contract, which expires on September 30, 2008.  Other infrastructure and site services portions of the Project Hanford Management Contract are being competed under the Mission Support Contract.

The transition period of the new contractor will begin on or after July 1, 2008, and will be completed in 90 days.  Under the new contract, CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company will assume responsibility for all non-tank farm cleanup on the Central Plateau of the Hanford Site beginning on October 1, 2008.  The base period of the contract is from October 1, 2008, through September 30, 2013, with a five-year option from October 1, 2013, through September 30, 2018.

The 586-square-mile Hanford Site in Southeastern Washington State played a pivotal role in the nation’s defense for more than 40 years, beginning in the 1940s with the Manhattan Project.  Formerly a plutonium production complex with nine nuclear reactors and associated processing facilities, Hanford is today engaged in the world’s largest environmental cleanup project.  More information is available from the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and from the Hanford Site.

Media contact(s):
Joann Wardrip, (202) 586-4940
Geoff Tyree, (509) 376-4171