Battelle wins 10-year contract to run INEEL

The federal government on Tuesday awarded the $4.8 billion contract to run the research operations at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory for the next 10 years to a consortium headed by Battelle.

The nonprofit organization based in Columbus, Ohio, teamed up with Boise-based Washington Group International Inc., BWXT Services Inc. and three research institutes to secure the contract over three other bidders including existing INEEL contractor Bechtel Corp.

It takes over from Bechtel on Feb. 1, the same day the facility shortens its name to the Idaho National Laboratory.

“We expect the Battelle Energy Alliance to bring its expertise to ensure the Idaho National Laboratory’s place as a leader in energy research, homeland security, national defense and environmental programs,” Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said.

With 7,000 employees, the Idaho Falls-based INEEL is eastern Idaho’s largest employer.

Battelle President Carl Kohrt promised that the facility “will be synonymous with international nuclear leadership.”

The alliance will merge the two research efforts at the site – the INEEL laboratory and the Argonne National Laboratory-West – into one operation and then elevate it to a world-class status in nuclear energy research and development.

The Energy Department is still evaluating proposals for a contractor to oversee the cleanup of radioactive and other hazardous material on the 900-square-mile complex under a 1995 court-enforced agreement between the state and federal governments.

William Magwood IV, director of the Energy Department’s office of nuclear energy, science and technology, said the Battelle alliance won the bid because of its proposed leadership team and the plan it proposed for achieving the site’s new mission as the nation’s lead facility in nuclear energy research.

Battelle currently manages the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington, and in conjunction with other partners it operates the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado.

Members of Idaho’s congressional delegation said the new contractor and the clear commitment to the nuclear research mission for INEEL clearly injects stability in a situation that had been uncertain for years. The labor force at INEEL has been halved since the early 1990s.