Gary Brunson, the Department of Energy official behind a recent memorandum harshly criticizing Bechtel National’s performance at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, has decided to drop his plans to retire from DOE, WC Monitor has learned. While Brunson had submitted the necessary paperwork to retire and scheduled his last day for Aug. 31, he subsequently rescinded the move in recent days, according to officials familiar with the issue. The DOE Office of River Protection, where Brunson serves as director of the WTP Engineering Division, largely declined to comment yesterday. “The Department values the privacy of its employees and does not generally comment on personnel actions,” ORP spokeswoman Carrie Meyer said in a written response.
In late August, Brunson sent a memorandum to top officials at ORP outlining what he described as more than 30 instances where Bechtel National had provided poor design input and technical advice at the Hanford vit plant. Brunson also called for Bechtel National to be stripped of its role as design authority for the massive project. “DOE engineering staff have uncovered findings at a nearly consistent rate since 2008. The rate of identification is constant, indicating systemic problems in the WTP design process and in BNI’s role as Design Authority. The number and rate of problems identified is indicative that issues are not being resolved,” Brunson wrote.
Since being made public, Brunson’s memo has been the subject of national media attention, and DOE has said it is reviewing his concerns. For its part, Bechtel National has strongly pushed back against Brunson’s allegations and sought to defend its design work at the WTP. “When you look at the body of people who have come in and transparently looked at, if not all, the preponderance of the things in his letter …. they look at these things and say, ‘Is it perfect? No. But will it ever be perfect? No, probably not until it’s in operation for many years. But is it safer than the [Hanford waste] tanks and will it perform the mission at no risk to the co-located worker and the public?’ Their answer, as well as ours, is yes,” Bechtel National Project Manager Frank Russo told WC Monitor last week.
