The Department of Energy hopes to finish closing off Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility by 2012 -- a tentative date that easily could change.

DOE hopes to set up a shutdown contract lasting eight years, but that time period could change once DOE receives and reviews proposals to continue work to close the dormant research reactor, said Jay Augustenborg, a DOE official on the contract selection board.

That means the contract could run for more or less than eight years, depending on the best bid proposal. DOE expects to award the contract in 2004.

Last week DOE discussed the contract with at least 46 companies, which will likely team with other firms to handle the entire contract.

DOE won't know how interested the firms are until it issues a final request for proposals Dec. 15 and receives bids by Feb. 12, Augustenborg said.

If there are no complicated discussions of contract changes or comparisons, DOE expects to award the contract by June 30. If complicated follow-up talks are needed, the deadline could extend to October 2004, he said.

DOE is seeking a "small business" to take over the shutdown as part of its nationwide push to farm out several nuclear-related cleanup projects to small businesses -- companies with fewer than 500 employees.

Right now, Fluor Hanford is shutting down FFTF. As a major corporation, Fluor can participate in the new contract only as a subcontractor.

FFTF's shutdown includes removing super-heated liquid sodium from its primary cooling loops, removing spent nuclear fuel, removing contaminated pipes and equipment, processing radioactive materials and transporting them elsewhere, possibly tearing down some buildings and possibly sealing up the reactor building.

DOE plans to conduct an environmental impact study on what the final state of the decommissioned complex should be.

Weapons Complex Monitor, a Washington, D.C., newsletter, recently raised the question of whether potential bidders will know how much work Fluor will have done when the new contract teams take over. That may affect bidders' calculations on schedules and budgets, the Monitor said.

Augustenborg said bidders will be kept up to date on Fluor's progress and its impacts. Bidders will work from DOE's predicted annual project budget of $46.1 million.

Although eight years of $46.1 million annual budgets equal almost $369 million, DOE speculates the overall price tag could reach $500 million.

Meanwhile, Fluor calculated in July that a $46.1 million annual FFTF shutdown budget could cost $706 million overall and stretch the work out until 2019.

Augustenborg said DOE reviewed Fluor's calculations and concluded costs could be trimmed to $500 million.