WRPS workers do preparatory work at the A/AX tank farms at Hanford in April 2015. They are the next tank farms from which waste will be retrieved at Hanford. WRPS recently received an 88 percent award fee for its performance in fiscal year 2015.

RICHLAND, Wash.EM recently gave its Office of River Protection (ORP) tank operations contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) an overall “very good” rating for fiscal year 2015, allowing the company at the Hanford Site to earn a $13,728,000 award fee. 

   Each year EM releases information relating to contractor fee payments — earned by completing the work called for in the contracts — to further transparency in its cleanup program.

   WRPS also received an overall “very good” in 2014, but the 2015 award fee was five percent higher than the previous year.

   The company was recognized for strong, consistent leadership in several key activities, including:

  • Taking over responsibilities for the Effluent Treatment Facility, which removes radioactive and hazardous contaminants from waste water; 
  • Implementing recommendations from the independent Tank Vapors Assessment Team, which has worked to minimize risks to workers, including chemical vapors in the tank farms; and
  • Improving integration between ORP contractors and the DOE national laboratories.  

   WRPS exceeded many significant award fee criteria and met overall cost, schedule, and technical performance requirements, according to the fee determination scorecard.  

   The scorecard lists eight special emphasis areas of which WRPS received “very good” ratings in six and “excellent” in two: management of the single-shell and double-shell tank system, and nuclear safety.  

   WRPS is responsible for safely managing the Hanford Site’s 56 million gallons of nuclear and chemical waste in 177 underground tanks, and preparing the systems to feed waste to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant for vitrification.