EnergySolutions Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC (WRPS) Officially Takes Control of Hanford's Tank Operations Contract


SALT LAKE CITY, UT--(Marketwire - October 2, 2008) - EnergySolutions, Inc. (NYSE: ES), a member of the WRPS team with URS' Washington Division, officially took control of the Tank Operations Contract at Hanford this week after a 3-month transition period. DOE values the ten-year contract (a five-year base period with options to extend up to an additional five years) at $7.1 billion. Under the contract, WRPS will manage the remediation of the radioactive and hazardous underground waste tanks located on the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington.

"We are proud to be a member of the team working to protect the people of Washington State and the Columbia River," said Steve Creamer, CEO and Chairman of EnergySolutions. "We understand the environmental challenges this project has and believe that the WRPS team has the expertise necessary to make significant progress on the project."

Approximately 53 million gallons of residual radioactive chemical waste is stored in 177 large underground tanks grouped in 18 farms at the 586 square mile Hanford site. Under the contract, EnergySolutions and its partners will safely maintain the tanks while beginning to conduct final retrieval and transfer of the waste for safe closure of the tanks.

EnergySolutions offers customers a full range of integrated services and solutions, including nuclear operations, characterization, decommissioning, decontamination, site closure, transportation, nuclear materials management, processing, recycling, and disposition of nuclear waste, and research and engineering services across the nuclear fuel cycle.

Statements in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and the Company's actual results may differ significantly from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements.

Contact Information: For more information please contact: Mark Walker 801-649-2194

GlobeNewswire