Idaho Lab Cleanup Contract Gives Stimulus to Small Businesses
The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) has awarded two small business contracts for work at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
North Wind Services, LLC, Idaho Falls, Idaho, was awarded a $14-million construction contract and TerranearPMC, LLC, of Exton, Pa., won a $2-million cleanup contract. North Wind Services and TerranearPMC are both certified small businesses under the U.S. Small Business Administration.
North Wind Services, LLC, an Alaskan Native Owned Corporation, will build protective structures at the Accelerated Retrieval Project (ARP) VII Facility and over Pit 10 West at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex. These structures are designed to protect workers from the elements and keep the radioactive materials dry until they are exhumed from Pit 10 West for final disposition. The contract is from July 30, 2010 to through Sept. 30, 2011.
TerranearPMC will deactivate and demolish the Test Reactor Area-712, at the Advanced Test Reactor Complex. The contract period is from July 30, 2010 to July 30, 2011.
“Recovery Act funds have helped us make significant progress over the last year-and-a-half while providing substantial job growth in communities across the United States. Recovery Act funding provided $6 billion to accelerate the cleanup of nuclear waste at sites around the country, with the goal of reducing EM’s footprint by 40 percent. More than 20,000 workers have benefited from Recovery Act spending, with 698 Recovery Act positions being retained or created to date at INL working at EM projects,” EM Recovery Act Program Director Cynthia Anderson said.
EM is responsible for the largest nuclear environmental cleanup project in the world. After five decades of nuclear weapons production, the Cold War left 1.5 million cubic meters of solid waste and 88 million gallons of liquid waste that will require treatment and permanent safe storage. In addition to the decontamination of soil and groundwater at these sites, thousands of buildings and structures must be decontaminated and demolished.