Ligon said Circuit City looked at the strength of the local economy as well as the site before making its decision to add a store in the Tri-Cities. Visibility, street access and availability of land all contribute to siting decisions, she explained. Circuit City operates electronic superstores and a chain of 45 mall stores in nearly 160 metropolitan markets. Though the Department of Energy wants to keep to that deadline, the Hanford Advisory Board raised numerous questions Thursday about keeping the work on track as the agency sorts out problems created by the firing of its lead project contractor. DOE wants to send out a request for proposals by Sept. 1.
Acquisitions usually take a year.
DOE has scheduled a meeting at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Federal Building in Richland to get opinions from the public and potential bidders on how the new contract should be approached. D.C. Bidders can take over BNFL's and Bechtel's designs, which DOE likes. Or a bidder can submit its own glassification plan. Todd Martin, chairman of the HAB's tank waste committee, believes an open and fair competition for the new contract will inevitably delay the 2007 glassification start date. Washington, D.C.'s, traditionally slow decision-making and the upcoming presidential election could add more delays, he said.