INEEL cleanup delayed once again

IDAHO FALLS – The federal government has pushed back the starting date a second time for cleanup of decades of radioactive contamination at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

The final requirements for bidding on the seven-year contract were issued two months later than planned, so the Energy Department is negotiating with Bechtel BWXT Idaho to extend its current cleanup contract from Feb. 1 to May 1.

Late last year it extended both the cleanup and site management contracts for Bechtel from October to February after deciding it needed more time to split management of the Eastern Idaho site into two separate contracts.

Four teams were expected to submit bids to manage the nuclear research aspect of the site, which is being renamed the Idaho National Laboratory this fall. The contractor for that work will still take over on Feb. 1. That research contract is intended to enhance the facility’s new mission as the nation’s leading nuclear energy institution.

Officials said they expect to announce the successful cleanup contract bidder by mid-March to smooth the transition from Bechtel, which has run the 900-square-mile site since October 1999.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has said he expects the cleanup to be dramatically accelerated so it’s mostly complete by 2012. The nuclear waste aspect of the cleanup must be done by 2036 under a court-ordered settlement the state and federal governments reached in 1995. Some other environmental projects have been scheduled to run until 2070.