Fluor Hanford Inc. announced Friday that it will lay off 80 people in the near future, adding to the approximately 320 employees who have involuntarily lost their jobs this year.

The layoffs were announced in a memo to employees from Dave Van Leuven, Fluor Hanford president and chief executive. He attributed them to a "new phase in our cleanup mission" at Hanford as the company nears completion of stabilizing plutonium at the Plutonium Finishing Plant and removing spent fuel rods from K Basins, and moves toward deactivation and decommissioning work.

Geoff Tyree, Fluor spokesman, said Friday that no information was available on which employees would be laid off, which departments would see cuts or when the layoffs would take place. He said the company would provide further information within the next two weeks.

Since the first of the year, Fluor has laid off 323 employees, and another 281 have left on a voluntary basis or through retirement, Tyree said. The company, Hanford's lead cleanup contractor and the site's largest firm, also has hired about 260 people in that time, he said.

The previous job reductions have come predominantly from Fluor's administrative departments, as the company has shifted workers from administrative tasks to on-the-ground cleanup work. The cuts took place in three stages from last December through May.

"I understand that these changes are distracting and unfortunate," Van Leuven said in his memo, "but are necessary for our cleanup mission at Hanford."

As of Friday, Fluor employed 4,166 people, said Judy Connell, director of communications and public involvement.