Cost and schedule issues at the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state have prompted the U.S. Energy Department to downgrade the performance of facility construction and operations contractor Bechtel National.
That’s one of the observations in a semiannual report from the DOE’s Office of Inspector General regarding its work. This report addresses issues raised in various IG audits and reports issued during the second half of fiscal 2019, from April 1 to Sept. 30.
The Energy Department’s Office of River Protection at Hanford, which oversees the Waste Treatment Plant project, downgraded Bechtel’s contractor performance rating from “satisfactory” to “marginal” for schedule and cost issues identified during calendar year 2018 and the beginning of calendar year 2019, according to the IG report.
The downgrade resulted in part from information found from ongoing “criminal and civil investigations” by the inspector general, according to the semiannual report. The investigations are being coordinated with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington.
The report also says Bechtel remains rated “marginal” for cost controls. Otherwise, it does not offer many details regarding the causes of the downgrade.
The “assessing official” at DOE also said given what is now known about Bechtel’s ability to perform under the contract, “I would NOT recommend them for similar requirements in the future,” the IG reported.
Bechtel National has a cost-plus-fee award contract, valued at $14.7 billion, to build the Waste Treatment Plant. The facility is designed to convert much of the 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste now stored in Hanford’s underground tanks, a legacy of decades of plutonium production for nuclear weapons, into a stable glass-like form for final disposal.
Initial projections, prior to 2000, for a vitrification plant at Hanford were less than half the current cost estimate of $17 billion.
The plant is being built on a 65-acre site and includes four major nuclear facilities – Pretreatment, Low-Activity Waste Vitrification, High-Level Waste Vitrification, and the Analytical Laboratory. Like many big DOE projects, it has suffered schedule delays over the years.
Energy Department Hanford Manager Brian Vance acknowledged in September that he could not say with certainty the High-Level Waste Vitrification Facility and the Pretreatment Facility would be operational by the end of 2036, a deadline set under 2016 amendment to the the state-federal consent decree on Hanford cleanup.
Bechtel and DOE officials have, however, said they are on target to start vitrification of low-level waste at WTP by 2023 – also per the judicial consent decree update.
“Bechtel National remains fully committed to and accountable for the successful delivery of the Vitrification Plant project,” company spokeswoman Staci West said in a Thursday email.
“Our progress and momentum continued to build this year toward commissioning with receiving the final piece of permanent plant equipment, completing construction of our support facilities and Analytical Laboratory, and bringing the Low-Activity Waste Facility control room online” by the end of 2023, West added.
