Fluor JV gets go-ahead to start work on US$45 billion Hanford nuclear site cleanup

In a statement yesterday, Fluor announced that US Department of Energy had granted approval for its joint venture to begin work on a ten year environmental management contract worth up to US$45 billion at the Hanford Site in Washington State which was once used to manufacture the plutonium used in the nuclear bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki in 1945.

The joint venture company, Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C), also includes a subsidiary of nuclear specialist BWX Technologies and security specialist Amentum.

Fluor said the contract scope includes the operation of the Hanford tank farm facilities, eventual operation of the waste treatment and immobilisation plant and responsibility for other core functions such as project management, security and emergency services, business performance and environment, safety, health and quality.

Cleaning out the site’s underground tanks and stabilising them for permanent disposal has proved a challenging task for teams of engineers since the site was decommissioned at the end of the Cold War.

An initial plan to embed radioactive waste in glass and bury it was halted in 2012 after waste experts found serious defects in a 137,000 square foot chemical treatment plant built to treat it.

“Fluor and our H2C partners are ready to get to work on this important DOE cleanup mission,” said Tom D’Agostino, Group President of Fluor’s Mission Solutions business. “We’ve been a proud member of the Tri-Cities community for more than 25 years, beginning with the Project Hanford Management Contract in 1996 and continuing through to our role today on the Central Plateau Cleanup Contract. We look forward to supporting the DOE and other site contractors in continuing our effort and in working with the community.”

The DOE first announced it had awarded the contract to H2C in March 2024. A protest against this award was recently dismissed in the US Court of Federal Claims.