ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION PROGRESS IN HANFORD'S 100, 200, AND 300 AREAS

The Hanford Site's Environmental Restoration (ER) Project is the successful product of an experiment in focused work scope definition, incentivized performance-based contracting, and innovative technical and business management approaches conducted jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office and its ER contractor team led by Bechtel Hanford, Inc. Since its inception in mid-1994, the ER Project has aggressively tackled the management and cleanup of the Site's extensive inventory of aging surplus nuclear facilities and contaminated waste sites. It has achieved many measurable and cost-effective results during this time and set in place the framework and conditions for ongoing performance success. This is in large part due to cooperative relationships and trust among many different government, regulatory, contractor, and public entities; willingness to apply proven commercial practices; disciplined control of cost and schedule baselines; the ability to adjust to changing conditions; relative consistency in annual Federal funding; and most importantly, the right kind of qualified and motivated people working together to plan and carry out the work.