The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M HILL) has awarded a subcontract worth nearly $11 million to Federal Engineers and Constructors (FE&C), a small business headquartered in Richland, Washington.
FE&C will modify an existing facility at the Hanford Site in southeast Washington State that is critical to moving highly radioactive waste, called sludge, out of the K West reactor storage basin.
CH2M HILL is responsible for retrieving and treating the highly radioactive material. Removing the sludge from the K West Basin is a major step toward demolishing the basin and achieving DOE’s goal of completing cleanup along the Columbia River in the next few years.
FE&C will help CH2M HILL prepare to move the sludge by modifying a facility called the K West Annex. The Annex is a support building attached to the K West reactor basin where the sludge is stored in underwater containers. The existing annex is a framed steel structure on a concrete foundation with metal siding.
FE&C will modify the annex to house equipment for retrieving the sludge from containers in the K West Basin and transferring the sludge into storage containers for shipment to Hanford’s Central Plateau, located in the center of the Site. The sludge containers will be transported to Hanford’s T Plant and stored temporarily until a treatment method is developed and a disposal method is determined.
Once the sludge is transported to T Plant, the modified annex will be demolished along with other buildings around the K West Reactor along the River that are no longer of service. To date, CH2M HILL has removed 57 support structures near the K West and K East Reactors.
The annex modification project is expected to take approximately one year. FE&C is a small, locally owned business specializing in nuclear and industrial construction; deactivation, decontamination, decommissioning and demolition; hazardous and nuclear environmental remediation; and engineering and technical services.
Related ArticlesDOE announces funding plan for small modular reactors The Westinghouse SMR Holtec enters reactor market with natural-circulation SMR design SMRs-what are their prospects? Shaw to support HI-SMUR development Fluor to invest in NuScale small reactor Westinghouse signs up Ameren for SMR bid
| NexStart SMR Alliance members |
| Ameren Missouri Exelon Generation Company Dominion Virginia Power FirstEnergy Generation Tampa Electric Company Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation Savannah River National Laboratory Burns & McDonnell General Dynamics Electric Boat (including Missouri Alliance members): Missouri Public Utility Alliance Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, Inc. The Empire District Electric Company Kansas City Power and Light Company. |
