Mid-America beats DUF6 goals; PORTS-Paducah teams reap high fees

The contractor in charge of converting a byproduct of uranium enrichment into a safer form at old gaseous diffusion plants in Ohio and Kentucky exceeded its targets for fiscal 2024, the Department of Energy said. 

DOE recently made public its latest fee scorecards for both that contractor, Mid-America Conversion Services and separate cleanup contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky, homes of the old gaseous diffusion enrichment plants.

Atkins-led Mid-America Conversion Services earned 81% of its subjective fee and 94% of its overall fee for depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion work at Portsmouth and Paducah between April 1 and Sept. 30, according to its latest scorecard. Overall the contractor team pocketed $3.5 million out of a potential $3.7 million for the work period.

Mid-America beat its annual targets for processing cylinders at both sites for fiscal 2024, DOE said. It hit 626 at Paducah, beating the goal of 608. At Portsmouth, it processed 460, exceeding the target of 456.

Mid-America is working to address issues “with front-line supervision, decision-making and work execution,” DOE said in the scorecard.

Meanwhile, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, DOE’s cleanup contractor at the Portsmouth Site, earned 89% of its subjective fee and 99% of its objective fee for the second half of fiscal 2024.

Overall, Fluor-BWXT took home $16.4 million out of a potential $17 million for its decontamination and decommissioning work between April 1 and Sept. 30 at the former enrichment site, according to the latest DOE scorecard.

It marked another strong performance from the contractor, which won 98% of its fee for last time around. Fluor-BWXT started its decontamination-related work at the Piketon, Ohio site in August 2010 under a contract now valued at $5.3 billion, thanks to various DOE extensions.

In July 2023, DOE selected Amentum-led Southern Ohio Cleanup as the next cleanup contractor for Portsmouth. However, DOE had not turned cleanup over to the new contractor as of Dec. 31.

In fiscal 2025, DOE said it wants to see Fluor-BWXT show “increased focus on regulatory compliance and project management rigor,” according to the latest scorecard. Among other things, the department praised the contractor for asbestos removal at the deactivated X-333 Process building, scheduled for tear-down by around 2031.

Over at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, Jacobs-led Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership won 88% of its subjective fee and 96% of its overall fee for cleanup work in fiscal 2024. Four Rivers was a Jacobs-led joint venture. Dallas-based Jacobs combined its government contracting business with Amentum earlier this year.

Overall, Four Rivers earned $9.7 million out of a potential $10.1 million for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, according to the scorecard. Under opportunities for improvement, DOE said Four Rivers should continue to benefit from its counterparts at Portsmouth, which are further along in the nuclear cleanup process.

On the upside, DOE said Four Rivers awarded about 67% of procurements to small businesses, which exceeded its contract goals. Four Rivers started its contract, currently worth $1.7 billion in June 2017.