Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, LLC (FRNP), a CH2M-led company with partners Fluor Corporation and BWX Technologies, Inc., commenced work under a new Paducah Deactivation and Remediation (D&R) Contract at EM’s former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant on Oct. 20.

“During transition we have had the opportunity to get to know the site and the workforce, set expectations, and assess the contract scope,” said FRNP Program Manager Bill Kirby. “Our team brings lessons learned from across the complex combined with incumbent site knowledge that will help us deliver cost-effective results in achieving the cleanup mission of DOE Environmental Management.”

The Four Rivers leadership team led by Kirby brings extensive collective experience from sites across the EM complex, including the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), Idaho Cleanup Project, Hanford Plateau Remediation Company, West Valley Demonstration Project, and Portsmouth and Paducah Gaseous Diffusion plants.

The team has a history of successful deactivation, demolition, groundwater remediation, regulatory interface, strategic planning and integration, waste disposition, and safe performance of work:

• Deputy Manager Myrna Redfield and Roland Chretien, health, safety, security and quality manager, bring years of Paducah experience;
• Stabilization and deactivation manager Mike Swartz has led safe stabilization, deactivation and remediation of uranium and plutonium processing facilities at three EM sites;
• Allen Schubert, planning and optimization manager, led strategic planning and integration efforts at ETTP; and
• Environmental Services Manager Curt Walker implemented a remedial action plan for stabilization and deactivation at ETTP.

The D&R performance-based contract is valued at approximately $1.5 billion over five years, with options for extending it up to 10 years. The project includes management of more than 650 structures, properties, and buildings to minimize maintenance costs, risk, and future demolition costs.

“FRNP has been tasked with deactivating and remediating the Paducah Site safely, efficiently, and consistently with EM’s priorities and resources, and we look forward to working with them to achieve that mission,” said Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Manager Robert Edwards.

The Paducah Site is situated on approximately 3,500 acres in western Kentucky, 10 miles west of Paducah, and 3.5 miles south of the Ohio River. The site, built in the 1950s as part of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, processed uranium from 1952 to 2013 for military reactors and nuclear weapons, and later for nuclear power plant fuels.