The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a small business contract to Advanced Technologies Laboratories International, Inc. of Germantown, Maryland, for Laboratory Analytical Services and Testing at the 222-S laboratory on the Hanford Site. The $48.6 million cost-plus-award-fee contract is for five years.

The contract supports DOE’s Office of River Protection, one of two Environmental Management field offices tasked with managing cleanup at the Hanford Site.

Laboratory analytical services and testing work involves analyzing and reporting the results of inorganic, organic, and radiochemical analyses to the site.

The samples sent to the 222-S Laboratory, primarily from Hanford’s underground tanks, typically consist of highly radioactive waste. The testing and analysis are needed to determine the waste composition, maintain control of the chemistry of the wastes in the tank and prepare for turning the waste into a stable glass form at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant under construction at Hanford.

The 586-square-mile Hanford Site in Southeastern Washington State played a pivotal role in the nation’s defense for more than 40 years, beginning in the 1940s with the Manhattan Project. Formerly a plutonium production complex with nine nuclear reactors and associated processing facilities, Hanford is today engaged in the world’s largest environmental cleanup program.