Feds start search for contractor to operate $17 billion Hanford waste plant
KENNEWICK – The Department of Energy has taken the first step toward finding a contractor to operate the $17 billion Hanford vitrification plant.
On Thursday, DOE asked for information from companies interested in operating the plant to help it develop its request for bids.
The plant is required to be ready at the end of 2023 to turn some of Hanford’s least radioactive waste held in underground tanks into a stable glass form for disposal at a new lined landfill at Hanford.
DOE contractor Bechtel National began construction on the plant in 2002, under a contract that included designing and building the plant and then starting it up and commissioning it.
Now DOE is making plans for a new contract to begin partial operation of the vit plant.
Technical issues have delayed work on parts of the plant that will handle high-level radioactive waste, but Bechtel is on track to finish commissioning parts of the plant that will be used to vitrify low-activity radioactive waste by the 2023 deadline set in a federal court consent decree, DOE said.
The new contract will cover operations at the plant’s Low Activity Waste Facility, where waste will be vitrified, and the plant’s Analytical Laboratory.
There lab employees will help develop a “recipe” of glass-forming materials for each batch of waste and also confirm that a high-quality glass is produced.
The new contract also will cover operations of about 17 support facilities on the plant’s 65-acre campus at the center of the Hanford site, ranging from the steam plant to a chiller compressor plant.
The new contract will cover receiving waste from the Hanford tank farm contractor, vitrifying the waste and then transferring the glassified waste back to the tank farm contractor for disposal, according to DOE.
Hanford has 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored in underground tanks, some prone to leaking. The waste, about 90% considered low-activity radioactive waste, is left from the production of plutonium during World War II and the Cold War for the nation’s nuclear weapons program.
Companies interested in the new contract are asked to prepare a statement outlining their capabilities for the work by May 11.
DOE said it was interested in hearing from companies with experience operating complex chemical facilities, as well as companies with nuclear experience.
Chemical companies will be asked to describe how they plan to acquire the nuclear experience to work with radioactive waste.
Other information companies will provide includes their history of relevant work, any possible challenges and risks they foresee in performing the work, and any conflicts of interest.
DOE also is seeking ideas for innovative approaches and ways to maximize production without impacting safety.
It will use the information it receives as it considers the type of contract to award, the length of the contract, the potential cost of the work and if the contract could be awarded to a small business or some work could be subcontracted to a small business.