RICHLAND -- After the Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Lockheed Martin the contract, it means hundreds of Fluor Hanford jobs are up in the air.

Workers don't know if they'll be picked up by the new contractor. And once the employees go, there will be no more Fluor Hanford.

"Life brings change and challenges," Fluor Hanford Spokesperson Judy Connell* said.

It's the end of a 12 year era for Fluor Hanford. The contract for K-basin clean-up, Fast Flux Test Facility and site services ends in just a few weeks.

Earlier this year, the DOE broke up Fluor's contracts into two other contractors. It's left 3,000 workers in limbo.

"As any of these contracts go, the workers are affected in this sense that they don't know where, who their new employer is going to be and these kinds of things," Tri-City Development (TRIDEC) Council President Carl Adrian said.

"And this is just another phase in this community's development and Flour's role in this community," Connell said.

Judy Connell's job is on the line like everyone else.

Her company was already preparing employees for the transition: offering them a couple options if they weren't picked up by the new contractor.

A thousand people are eligible to retire, getting severance pay and benefits. Or, workers could voluntarily take themselves off the payroll.

"And how you look at that is a very personal thing, it's where you are in life, what your family circumstances are," Connell said.

And time is running out. Transition time will take three months. By January 1st, Lockheed Martin will have taken over.

"Well we're thrilled, it's been a long journey for us," Lockheed Martin President and GM Frank Figueroa said.

Figueroa said most work will be done by Fluor Hanford.

"I think it should be relatively seamless," he said. "Most of the contracts transitions are going to be taking existing employees and bringing them over to the new management contractor," Figureroa said.

He said his company is looking for skill sets across the board.

"We're looking for people in computers, in engineering, it's just going to be a tremendous opportunity," Figueroa said.

"So I think from just a personal level the workers should be a little bit better that the contract has been awarded, and at least there's a path forward," Adrian said.

"Fluor will still be here. It will just take a different role," Connell said.

Some employees will still work at the Fluor offices on Jadwin working on the Tank Farm and Plateau Remediation Contract.

Clearly, there's still a lot to be worked out and many employees have questions.

So the new contractor is setting up a website by the end of the week.

*Judy Connell's title was accidentally misspelled during the initial broadcast. Our apologies.