BWX Technologies (BWXT) have been awarded a contract worth up to $45 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to handle environmental management operations at the Manhattan Project’s Hanford Site over a 10-year ordering period, BWX said in a March 4 press release.

The DOE is in the process of revamping the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington, to be able to treat tank waste from the site’s 40 years of plutonium production.

Joint venture Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure LLC, led by a BWX subsidiary and includes subsidiaries of Amentum and Fluor, was awarded the Hanford Integrated Tank Disposition Contract. The contract includes operation of the Hanford tank farm facilities and eventual operation of the waste treatment and immobilization plant.

“We are dedicated to supporting the U.S. Department of Energy’s environmental stewardship at this site, as well as national security and cleanup work for DOE sites across the nation,” said Rex Geveden, BWXT’s president and CEO.

The contract allows BWXT to leverage its nuclear technical capabilities on “high-consequence environmental restoration sites,” said Geveden.

“Our team is both honored and appreciative that DOE has selected us to take on the largest and most complex radioactive waste cleanup project in the United States,” said Heatherly Dukes, president of BWXT’s Technical Services Group. “We are committed to working with our DOE Environmental Management customer, regulatory authorities and the Tri-Cities community in safely reducing the environmental liabilities at the site in an efficient and effective manner that is protective of the workforce, the public and the environment.”