The Department of Energy has awarded Bechtel Hanford Inc. $10.8 million for its environmental restoration work in 2000.

It is the 11th consecutive year the Bechtel-led team, which also includes CH2M Hill Hanford and Thermal Hanford, has received an "outstanding" rating for its work to secure defunct reactors and protect the Columbia River from contaminated water and soil.

The fee and rating reflect progress the Bechtel team made toward meeting goals DOE set out for the current fiscal year, said Bob Rosselli, DOE's deputy manager for business services.

"This is excellent news for them," Rosselli said.

Keith Klein, DOE manager for Hanford, cited Bechtel for achieving some of the most visible cleanup progress to date.

Bechtel Hanford President Mike Hughes said he was pleased by the rating. He credited the subcontractors and Bechtel employees for being knowledgeable and innovative as they went about their jobs.

"It was an outstanding effort on the part of our team," he said.

For example, Bechtel removed nearly two times as much contaminated soil from the river shore as was set out in the goals.

Hughes said that was possible in part because workers found more soil than expected and also because they found better ways to deal with it.

"They kept coming up with better ways to move the material," he said.

Key accomplishments included:

-- Removing more than 639,000 tons of contaminated soil from six cleanup sites along the river. That's almost double the amount specified in the goals laid down for the year. In related work, the team expanded the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility.

-- Significant progress toward cleanup of several Cold War relics -- the F and DR reactors and the 233-S plutonium processing facility.

The reactor project involves removing ancillary buildings at each reactor and sealing off the reactor buildings to prevent water and rodents from getting in. Sealing the reactors reduces the need for monitoring and oversight.

The work is 75 percent complete at F Reactor and 80 percent complete at DR Reactor, according to DOE.

-- Deploying new technology to treat chromium-contaminated ground water in places. The new technology permits water to be treated in the ground, which is less expensive than standard pump-and-treat methods.

-- Helping develop the Family Fishing Pond recreation area at the east end of Kennewick's Columbia Park and working on a project to expand the Tri-Cities Chaplaincy Hospice, a residential facility for terminally ill patients.

Bechtel's goals for the coming year include completing work on the F and DR reactors, getting started on the D and H reactors, removing 490,000 tons of contaminated soil and expanding the ground water treatment technology to other chromium-contaminated sites.