Two Hanford enterprise companies have been awarded a $14 million contract to design a medical isotopes processing facility in Canada, Hanford officials announced Friday.

It is the biggest contract - $20 million in Canadian dollars - in the short lives of Fluor Daniel Northwest and SGN Euriys Services Corp. - or SESC.

SGN, the French corporate parent of SESC, is also a partner in the project.

The work is for Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which is building two reactors - MAPLE 1 and MAPLE 2 - at Ontario's Chalk River site to replace an old medical isotope reactor.

These reactors use neutrons to bombard "targets" inside some core assemblies. The Fluor-SESC contract is to build a processing plant to take the bombarded targets and extract three medical isotopes.

Fluor Northwest's job is to take the lead role in designing the overall plant, for which is will receive about $7 million.

SGN, a French nuclear conglomerate, will provide five hot cells - chambers equipped with remote-controlled arms where the isotopes and waste will be extracted. SESC will do some engineering and procurement work for the project. Those two firms will share the rest of the fee.

Joe Davis, president of Fluor Northwest, said Fluor, SGN and SESC probably would not have stood a chance as individual firms - crediting the three's combined expertise for beating out eight other bids.

"This demonstrates we can be competitive in the global marketplace," Davis said.

Fluor Northwest's team has already begun the design work, which will last to July. During this stage, 15 to 30 Fluor and three SESC employees will work on the project.

Construction is to begin in the sum mer and last about 15 months. During construction, Fluor will have three people on site with visits by others from Richland, said David Shrimpton, Fluor Northwest's manager for the project.

The two MAPLE reactors and the isotope plant are scheduled to begin operating in May 2000.

Before the Chalk River contract, about 60 of Flour Northwest's 1,060 employees and seven of 120 SESC workers were employed outside of Hanford.

Fluor Northwest and SESC are two of Hanford's six "enterprise" companies that are suppose to wean themselves from Hanford,

Chalk River will produce three isotopes - molybdenum 99, iodine 131 and xenon 133 for diagnostic purposes.

Hanford's dormant Fast Flux Test Facility - which is being considered for revival to eventually produce medical isotopes - has the capability to produce the molybdenum 99 and iodine 131.

However, Tom Tenforde, manager of the Hanford Radioisotopes Program, said the molybdenum is not being seriously considered at the FFTF. Canada is already the prime molybdenum supplier. A reactor at Sandia, N.M. is considered the prime backup for this isotope.

The iodine 131 demand is broad, and Tenforde did not see potential competition between the two projects.

Plans for the FFTF has it targeting isotope markets where there is a demand, he said.

Work at Chalk River will provide experience for Fluor Northwest and SESC if they ever get involved with a revived FFTF, said Bruce Morson, SESC's president.

Fluor Northwest is eyeing other nuclear projects in Canada and has submitted preliminary paperwork on two, Davis said, declining to elaborate. SESC is looking at similar prospects.