Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
5/22/2015
AECOM is now projecting completion of physical work at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) D&D project by the end of next year—ahead of the Department of Energy’s previously stated schedule for the project. “Safe progress continues at the SPRU project,” AECOM spokesman Keith Wood said in a written response late last week, going on to state that the contractor “anticipates project completion by the end of calendar year 2016.”
Last fall, DOE said it anticipated physical work to be completed at the project in 2017, with finalization of the documentation required to officially close the project to be finished by September 2018. A DOE official told WC Monitor this week that the Department’s estimate for the overall completion of the SPRU D&D project remains in the 2017-2018 time frame. “AECOM has continued making safe progress at SPRU including removing piping, sludge tanks and equipment from buildings H2 and G2,” a DOE spokesperson said in a written response this week.
SPRU Project Initially Slated to be Completed in 2011
The SPRU D&D project entails the removal of two buildings, known as H2 and G2, that were used in the 1950s to research chemical processes for separating plutonium and uranium from irradiated materials. In 2007, the Department of Energy awarded URS (since acquired by AECOM) a four-year contract worth approximately $67 million for the project, which was to have been completed by the end of 2011. In the fall of 2010, though, a set of contamination incidents occurred during open-air demolition activities at one of the two SPRU buildings that resulted in the spread of low levels of contamination to the broader Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, where SPRU is located, as well as to a local river. The contamination incidents helped to stall work at SPRU for approximately two years, and led to changes in how D&D would be performed at the site, chiefly through the addition of enclosures constructed around the buildings with ventilation systems.
Outlining the work recently completed at SPRU, Wood said, “In building H2, we have completed contaminated pipe removal in four of the five cells, and have removed five of seven H2 vault tanks. Also, water is being pumped from the H2 pipe tunnel. In building G2, work continues with piping removal, preparation for tank removal, decontamination and clean-up of debris areas.” AECOM is now targeting to be “demolition ready” in building G2 in the fall of this year, he said.
Cost Responsibility Still Unclear
Also in response to the 2010 contamination incidents, DOE subsequently moved to modify its contract with URS to set up a cost-sharing approach for completing work. That approach entails DOE being responsible for all project costs up to $105 million; DOE and URS splitting all costs incurred from $105-145 million; and URS being fully responsible for covering all costs exceeding $145 million. Since the contract modification was finalized, though, URS has been pushing back against being held responsible for significant portions of the costs to date incurred at SPRU, which have included, among other issues, addressing the impacts of bad weather at the site.
In its first quarter 2015 earnings report, released last week, AECOM reiterated that it has incurred total project costs of approximately $300 million at SPRU, and that it has submitted claims against DOE pursuant to the Contracts Disputes Acts seeking recovery of $103 million, including additional fees on changed work scope. AECOM also reiterated that “due to significant delays and uncertainties about responsibilities for the scope of remaining work,” the final cost for completing the SPRU D&D project “may exceed $100 million.” AECOM declined to comment late this week on the status of the cost negotiations with DOE.
