The Department of Energy withheld a quarter of the potential $461,000 fee for contractor CH2M Hill B&W West Valley (CHBWV), limiting the ceiling to $346,000 for its cleanup work in the latest performance period at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York.
The fee was withheld for the contractor’s performance from March 1 through Aug. 28, according to a recent scorecard from the Energy Department.
CH2M Hill B&W West Valley earned only $225,000 after it lost 25 percent of its potential fee as a result of a June 4 notice of violation from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, DOE said in its assessment.
The contractor shipped a drum of mixed waste that was mislabeled as Class A waste to an EnergySolutions facility in Clive, Utah for disposal of low-level radioactive waste. The West Valley contractor paid the state of Utah a $5,000 penalty
In addition to paying the fine, CH2M Hill B&W West Valley also implemented changes to prevent the situation from happening again, according to Don Verbica, a section manager for low-level radioactive waste with the Utah DEQ. The drum was subsequently sent to another waste facility.
Overall, the Energy Department rated CHBWV “very good” for business administration and “good” for three other categories: safety, health and quality management; project management; and environmental and regulatory compliance.
Last time around, CHBWV got 80 percent, or $365,000, of the potential fee available during its prior review period from Aug. 30, 2017, through Feb. 28.
The West Valley vendor team has a $542.3 million contract from 2011 through early March 2020. The contractor handles Phase 1 decommissioning at the former nuclear fuel reprocessing site. Its duties include demolition of old structures, and removing contaminated equipment and waste material.
