AIKEN - Washington Savannah River Co. will manage the cleanup of 36 million gallons of radioactive waste at Savannah River Site for 12 months after its current contract expires at year's end, officials announced Thursday.

The Department of Energy will divide management responsibilities after 2006 between two contracts. It plans to seek one company to handle liquid waste and another to manage almost everything else, including Savannah River National Laboratory, the site's highly touted research arm.

But in order to "conduct a full and open competition" for the liquid waste contract, the DOE needs more time, the agency stated in a document posted on its bid Web site.

The competitive selection process for both contracts will start simultaneously, DOE site manager Jeff Allison said through a spokesman. The liquid waste contract, however, will require more detail about cost estimates, he said.

A number of companies have said they'll compete to run at least one part of SRS, including DuPont, which managed the site from the early 1950s until 1989. It's possible one company could win both contracts.

Washington has said it will submit bids for both.

Jack Herrmann, vice president of corporate communications for Washington Savannah River Co.'s parent company, Washington Group International, said the extra time would be appreciated because procurement documents for each contract will be complicated.

Preparing just one bid proposal for a DOE site typically takes at least a year, he said.

"We're pleased to see it (the time extension) so we can focus on each procurement," he said. "We appreciate it just because these are so complex."

Reach Josh Gelinas at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110 or josh.gelinas@augustachronicle.com.

From the Friday, January 13, 2006 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle