News Releases | ARRA

Local business receives $30 million ARRA subcontract to expand landfill

02.10.2010

RICHLAND, Wash.—Washington Closure Hanford has awarded a subcontract worth up to $30 million to TradeWind Services, a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business based in Richland. The project, which will expand Hanford’s Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility by 50 percent, is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

ERDF is an engineered, low-level radioactive and mixed waste disposal facility located in the center of the 586-square-mile Hanford Site and is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The facility was built in 1996 to accept soil and debris generated during Hanford cleanup operations, primarily from work near the Columbia River.

The facility currently comprises eight disposal areas, or cells, which cover the same area as 35 football fields. Each cell is constructed with bottom and side liners consisting of multiple layers of natural and man-made materials that form an impermeable barrier, along with a system to catch liquids as they drain through the waste materials.

Built two cells at a time, the first pair went online when the facility opened in 1996. Designed to be expanded as needed, the facility has been expanded three times since it opened – in 1999, 2003 and 2007. Each cell measures 500 feet square by 70 feet deep.

TradeWind will add two new “super” cells to the facility. Super cells are twice the size of the existing cells. Cell 9, one of the new super cells, has already been dug. TradeWind will excavate super cell 10 and construct the liner and leachate collection system for both new cells.

The super cells measure 500 feet by 1,000 feet by 70 feet deep. ERDF’s current capacity is 11 million tons of contaminated material. Nearly nine million tons have been disposed to date. With the addition of super cells 9 and 10, ERDF’s capacity will be more than 16 million tons.

TradeWind recently was named a Washington Closure Mentor-Protégé. DOE established the Mentor-Protégé program to encourage subcontracting opportunities for small and disadvantaged businesses by pairing them with DOE prime contractors.

As part of the Mentor-Protégé program, TradeWind is eligible to receive significant guidance regarding business development, safety, quality and operations from Washington Closure. In addition, TradeWind selected DelHur Industries as its prime subcontractor on the ERDF expansion project.

DelHur built the first, second and fourth pair of cells at ERDF, as well as constructed Hanford’s Integrated Disposal Facility, which will support the Waste Treatment Plant. DelHur is a small business based in Port Angeles, Washington, and most recently completed excavation of nearly 1.8 million cubic yards of soil for ERDF super cell 9.

The TradeWind/DelHur excavation of super cell 10 will begin in early February and will continue through August 2010. Construction of the liner and leachate collection system will begin in April 2010. All work is to be completed by September 30, 2011.

Washington Closure Hanford is a limited liability company owned by URS, Bechtel and CH2M Hill. It operates the $2.4 billion River Corridor Closure Project for DOE and is responsible for cleaning up 370 waste sites, demolishing 486 buildings, placing two reactors and one nuclear facility in interim safe storage and managing ERDF.

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Photo filename: (E1001045.jpg)

Expansion of Hanford’s Environmental Restoration Facility is made possible with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Construction of super cells 9 and 10 will increase waste disposal capacity of the facility by 50 percent and will be completed in September 2011.

(High-resolution photograph available at: http://www.washingtonclosure.com/News/ERDF_Photos/E1001045.jpg.)