Doe Extends Bechtel Hanford Contract

Tue., July 14, 1998

From Staff

The U.S. Department of Energy has extended its contract with Bechtel Hanford Inc. on the environmental restoration project for three years.

“The performance of Bechtel Hanford during the past four years has been consistently excellent,” DOE manager John Wagoner said Monday.

BHI took over the project on July 1, 1994, with a five-year contract. The extension expires June 30, 2002.

Under the contract, BHI is responsible for major cleanup activities at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, where for decades plutonium was produced for nuclear weapons.

Hanford is the nation’s most-polluted nuclear site. Activities there now focus on cleaning up the radioactive and hazardous waste left from the plutonium production that ended in the 1980s.

Under the restoration project, more than 1 million tons of contaminated materials have been moved away from the Columbia River. Pumps and treatment facilities have been installed to contain groundwater contaminated by chromium.

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