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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hanford nuclear site contractor earns $4.5M for its report card

By Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Wash.)

Tri-City Herald

The Hanford nuclear site contractor operating the lab that analyzes highly radioactive tank waste samples earned 95% of its possible incentive pay for fiscal 2024, up from 74% in the previous fiscal year.

Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration, doing business as Navarro-ATL, earned almost $4.5 million of about $4.7 million for the last fiscal year for its operation of the 222-S Laboratory in central Hanford.

That’s up from $3.4 million the previous fiscal year, when Navarro-ATL lost potential incentive pay primarily for not completing as much work on laboratory upgrades and improvements as the Department of Energy wanted.

DOE releases short scorecards that summarize the annual performance of its contractors at the Hanford site in Eastern Washington and gives justification for the incentive pay, or “fee” as it is called at Hanford.

Navarro-ATL is reimbursed for its costs by the federal government and then is awarded fee based on its performance and meeting goals set by DOE.

The 222-S Laboratory is a 70,000-square-foot facility with 11 hot cells where work is done with radioactive waste samples by operators outside the cells operating equipment inside the cells.

Identifying physical and chemical characteristics of the waste supports work to empty leak prone underground waste storage tanks and test for potential threats to groundwater.

The lab also will play a major role in turning radioactive waste into a stable glass form at the Hanford vitrification plant, testing waste to ensure it is suitable for glassification.

In its fiscal 2024 scorecard, it received a score of 100% for laboratory upgrades and sample analysis performance, earning $2.8 million in pay.

In the subjecting evaluation of conduct of operations, management and safety, among other factors, it scored 88% to earn $1.6 million.

The scorecard said it needed to control costs for facility improvements, improve preventative maintenance of fire protection systems and work on chemical control processes.

Under achievements, DOE said it had rapid turnaround of radioactive samples, exceeding expectations, and that it completed six hot cell window replacements on schedule.

The contractor employs about 400.

The Hanford site, adjacent to Richland in Eastern Washington, produced nearly two-thirds of the plutonium from World War II through the Cold War for the nation’s nuclear weapons program.

Among continuing environmental cleanup work at the 580-square-mile site is treating 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous chemical waste held in underground tanks.