Battelle alliance wins $4.8 billion INL contract

Along with a new name, new faces are on the way to Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

Tuesday, Battelle Energy Alliance – the leader of a multi-faceted bidding team – was awarded an estimated $4.8 billion Department of Energy contract to manage the new Idaho National Laboratory.

By Dan Boyd – Journal Writer

http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2004/11/10/news/local/news01.txt

Battelle will replace Bechtel, which has supervised the site along with BWX Technologies since 1999, beginning on Feb. 1, 2005.

"We found the Battelle team had the qualifications and capabilities we found were necessary for success," said Bill Magwood, director of DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy. "We were very pleased with the plan they brought for the future."

Bill Madia, executive vice president for laboratory operations for Battelle, said the entire team was listening in on the phone when the announcement was made Tuesday morning.

"There was a gigantic roar," Madia said. "Frankly, the anxiety is pretty high. People are moving their families for this."

Madia said the proposal package put together by Battelle and its cohorts focused on a two-step process including separate stages of transition and transformation.

The first task facing Battelle at the site will be combining many of the facilities that now make up INEEL with Argonne National Laboratory West.

The sites have been run separately, but will soon be united to form the INL – a facility that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has said will lead next generation nuclear research.

"First and foremost, (the contract was appealing) because of its future and its connection with nuclear energy research," Madia said. "We think the energy shortage is a serious problem and nuclear is a component of the solution."

The new mission was a major draw for all four teams that submitted contract proposals. During the last decade, the INEEL has focused much of its energy and resources on environmental cleanup, not nuclear research and education, Magwood said.

Although the level of federal funding for the new laboratory has yet to be established, Magwood said the new team in place will show congressional leaders that the site can, and will, be effective in its new role.

As for the Idaho delegation, various state leaders voiced their excitement at working with the new site contractors.

"Selecting a contractor sends an important message of stability to the people of eastern Idaho, while taking a crucial step toward advancing the lab’s mission, our state’s economy and our national priorities," said recently re-elected Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter. "Research at the INL on the next generation of cleaner, more efficient nuclear reactors is key to America’s energy future."

While expressing their disappointment in not being selected to carry on their work, officials from Bechtel also pledged to support Battelle and the INL.

"We are proud of the fact that we will turn over a stable laboratory with a bright future," wrote Bechtel BWXT Idaho President and General Manager Paul Divjak in a memo to staffers. "Under our watch, Bechtel BWXT Idaho has installed safety and management systems that put the Idaho National Laboratory on a solid foundation."

In addition to Battelle, BWXT, Electric Power Research Institute, Washington Group International and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are among the other team members.

With less than three months before the coalition takes control, Madia said it will be important for team members to use their individual strengths for the larger cause in order to make the mission, and the site, a success.

"It’s no different than putting a football team together," he said. "If you have 11 fullbacks, you’re not going to win the game."