Staff Reports
WC Monitor
2/5/2016
The corrective action program at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant needs further improvements, despite past work on the program, according to an audit report released Thursday by the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General. Bechtel National implemented initiatives in August 2014 to address issues with the vitrification plant project’s corrective action program that had already been identified by the contractor and the Department of Energy. The audit report said both Bechtel and DOE took key steps, but it is too soon to judge the outcome. “We remain concerned about the corrective action program because of its importance and Bechtel’s past history of ineffective improvement plans,” the audit report said. Bechtel identified weaknesses in safety culture in 2014, including problems with following its own procedures, weaknesses in training, and concerns about management not valuing a rigorous corrective action program, the report said. DOE also did not ensure that previous Bechtel initiatives to address corrective action program implementation problems were fully implemented or sustained, the report said.
The audit report found weaknesses in three areas. In some instances, issues were not managed and tracked in the corrective action program, as required. For example, several significant technical issues related to the inadequate design of the vitrification plant’s mixing system were managed outside the corrective action program and were closed before the overall issue was resolved. Inadequate mixing could lead to criticality accidents, explosions of hazardous gases, and mechanical failures of equipment. Hanford managers said the issues, which predate 2010, were originally managed under an alternative, routine issue action tracking system but are now under the corrective action program. The report also found that corrective actions had not been implemented in a timely manner. Bechtel did not meet any of its goals related to timeliness for the corrective action program, the audit report said. The average age of condition reports was 315 days, more than three times the target time. In the third issue, Bechtel failed to follow through on implementing prior corrective action program improvement initiatives. One prior improvement initiative was updated several times from 2008 through 2010, but was discontinued in October 2010. In another example, an initiative related to condition report cycle time was begun in 2011 but not implemented.
The Office of Inspector General audit findings were consistent with a DOE Office of River Protection 2013 audit of Bechtel’s quality assurance program, which found major weaknesses in the company’s corrective action program. ORP concluded then that the program was not implemented in accordance with contract requirements. ORP issued two Priority Level 1 findings, the most adverse level of finding. It also directed Bechtel to develop a comprehensive managed improvement plan, which Bechtel did by March 2014. In August 2014 it began 10 new initiatives in direct response to issues associated with the corrective action program, including replacing its old corrective action tracking and control system with a new system by the end of the year. “The corrective action program implemented by BNI had been underway for more than a year at the time of the IG audit,” Bechtel said in a statement. “BNI will continue to identify and implement activities to strengthen the corrective action program, as well as address corrective actions in a safe and timely manner.”
DOE agreed with the audit report that “additional actions to improve the WTP corrective action program are prudent.” It concurred with the report’s recommendations and indicated that actions had been initiated or were planned to address the identified issues. The department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) prepared an oversight strategy and schedule for the WTP Management Improvement Plan and other corrective action plans. To date, EM has completed 18 assessments in this area, with about 50 more planned through the end of 2016, the audit report said. Recommendations included fully implementing the 16 items in the Management Improvement Plan related to the corrective action program. All issues should be entered in the corrective action plan and a stronger emphasis should be placed on implementing correct actions in a timely manner and significantly reducing the backlog of condition reports, the audit report recommended. “BNI is committed to the safe construction and startup of the WTP, and we continue to work closely with DOE’s Office of River Protection to ensure we accomplish the mission,” Bechtel said.
