COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Department of Energy is reviewing bids from companies who want to operate part of the Savannah River Site, the sprawling former nuclear weapons complex near Aiken, across the river from Augusta, Ga.

The site's current contract is worth more than $1 billion and the work is being split up between operating the decade-old site and environmental cleanup, and managing nuclear waste left over from Cold War weapons production.

The bidding closed in June to handle environmental cleanup and operate the Savannah River National Laboratory in a contract worth about $722 million.

"The bids are in and we're evaluating them," Energy Department spokesman Jim Giusti said Tuesday. No date is set for announcing the winner, but Giusti said the existing contract with Washington Savannah River Co. ends in June 2008.

Two companies are bidding for work, which employs about 6,200 people.

Washington Savannah River Co. has been the primary contractor at the site since 1989 when it bought Westinghouse Government Services.

Washington Savannah River is optimistic about keeping the contract, spokesman Jack Herrmann said.

"We've been here now 18 years. I think our record has been pretty good," Herrmann said.

A partnership led by Fluor Corp. is also bidding for the contract and has begun running television ads to introduce the company to the area.

"We're merely trying to establish ourselves as a clear choice as this competition comes to a conclusion here in a few months," said Chuck Munns, chief executive officer of the partnership Fluor Corp. set up to bid for and do the work, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions.

Munns said he doesn't expect the commercials to affect the bid evaluation. And neither does Herrmann, who says his company has advertised elsewhere during the bid process.

"It's always a good idea to get yourself known in the community," Herrmann said. In this case, his company didn't need to "because we've been there nearly 20 years," he said.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions' partners are Fluor, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. The company exists only to handle the Savannah River work, Munns said.

All have a background in defense or nuclear work. For instance, Munns notes Fluor's role in the cleanup of the DOE's Fernald uranium production facility in Ohio. "It finished 12 years ahead of schedule and saved $7 billion," Munns said.

The Energy Department now is developing bid documents for Savannah River's other primary operation -- managing liquid nuclear waste left over from the Cold War weapons production. About 2,500 people work at the site monitoring and handling some of the nation's most radioactive materials, including what's stored in tanks dating back to Savannah River's role in producing nuclear weapons.

Munns said his company won't bid for that work. Washington Group also plans to bid for that work.

From about 1950 until 1989, DuPont was the contractor for operations on the more than 180,000 acres in Aiken, Allendale and Barnwell counties. The company said it again wanted to run Savannah River Site but pulled out in June 2006.

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