PARSONS LOOKS TO FINISH SWPF STARTUP TA;LKS BY END OF YEAR

While a Department of Energy review called for a new agreement by this week with contractor Parsons on commissioning and startup of the Salt Waste Processing Facility to avoid further impacts to the project, that “may not be a hard date,” a Parsons SWPF official said last week. DOE and Parsons reached a new agreement on construction of the plant in April, and a Construction Project Review last summer found that a new deal for startup is needed by Oct. 31 in order to avoid cost and schedule impacts. “The CPR certainly made a good point that if these things protract for an indefinite period you can run into problems with retention of some of your testing and commissioning folks, but I think there’s a little bit of a buffer,” Tom Burns, Parsons’s director of engineering for SWPF, said last at the Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum.“The first of November may not be a hard date, but certainly as soon as possible is going to be in everybody’s best interest.”

DOE and Parsons are hoping to complete contract talks as soon as possible. “I certainly think the goal is to conclude these negotiations no later than the end of the year,” Burns said. “Can that happen? The Department has a prenegotiation position that needs to be approved, I know Parsons we have our corporate folks fully engaged and ready to go. There’s been a significant amount of fact finding prenegotiation discussions that have taken place and so things are moving in the right direction.”