WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Energy today awarded SEC Closure Alliance, LLC of Hanford, Wash., a $235 million small business contract to complete the deactivation and closure of the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) nuclear reactor at its Hanford, Wash. site by 2011. The FFTF is a 400-megawatt liquid-sodium cooled nuclear test reactor in Hanford’s 400 Area, about 13 miles north of Richland, Wash.
“This small business-led alliance offers the best value to the taxpayer to complete the closure of the reactor,” said Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. “Ensuring that contracting opportunities are available to the small business community is a key part of President Bush’s Small Business Agenda, and the Energy Department is proud to support this important goal.”
The Alliance’s team members include SEC Federal Services Corporation, Los Alamos Technical Associates Inc, Parallax Inc., Hart Crowser Inc., Framatome Inc. and Resources Consultants Inc.
The existing baseline for FFTF deactivation and closure work estimated the project would take until 2018 and cost more than $600 million. The Alliance will complete the work by 2011 at a total price of under $235 million.
Paul Golan, Acting Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management, said, “The team has experience maintaining workforce stability in closure projects and has proposed employee programs for post-project opportunities and fee sharing that should ensure outstanding project performance. All of those factors are very important to us.”
Current contractor Fluor Hanford has been deactivating the reactor since 1992, and is removing fuel, draining sodium from the cooling loops and taking down ancillary facilities. The FFTF Closure Project includes completing the deactivation and decontamination of FFTF and its support facilities, completing removal and shipment of remaining fuel to appropriate storage, disposition of the bulk sodium and completing environmental restoration of the area consistent with the industrial use designation of the site.
DOE is currently conducting an Environmental Impact Statement process that will determine the final disposition (i.e., decommissioning and dismantlement) of the FFTF, and expects to issue a Record of Decision by late 2005.
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