By Herald staff

The transition to the new contractor for Hanford's tank farms starts today.

However, the transition to a new contractor for cleanup of central Hanford has yet to begin. The Department of Energy had announced that today was the soonest the transition might start, but has not issued a notice to proceed to the new contractor.

At the tank farms, Washington River Protection Solutions begins work today to take over operations from outgoing DOE contractor CH2M Hill Hanford Group. The transition is expected to be completed Oct. 1.

No protest of the contract award had been filed to stop the transition of the tank farm contract by the deadline of last week.

The protest filing period is still open for the central Hanford cleanup contract. DOE awarded that contract to CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co., which will take over cleanup work being done by outgoing DOE contractor Fluor Hanford.

A third prime contract for site services such as security and utilities that now are being provided by Fluor Hanford has yet to be awarded.