Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the Energy Department’s cleanup contractor at the former gaseous diffusion plant in Pike County, Ohio, pocketed 86% of its potential fee for fiscal 2019, or $19.20 million of the available $22.78 million.
The vendor claimed about $3.61 million of a potential $6.68 million in subjective fee for the federal budget year that ended Sept. 30, 2019. It also took home $15.59 million in performance based-incentives for tasks such as completing much of the structure for cell No. 1 of the On-Site Waste Disposal Facility at the Portsmouth Site, according to the new scorecard.
By successfully focusing on development of the $900 million facility designed to hold 2 million cubic yards of contaminated waste on-site, the Energy Department appears on-track for its first emplacement in fiscal 2020, the performance evaluation notes.
The subjective fee grades the vendor for its quality and effectiveness of program management under the contract, as well as environmental, safety, and other regulatory performance. Fluor-BWXT was deemed “very good” in its program management but only “satisfactory” on the environmental and regulatory end.
Flour-BWXT has done well in preparing for certain aspects of demolition of the X-326 process building, which is expected to begin later this year. At the same time, “the Department remains disappointed with FBP’s performance in managing the completion of the deactivation of the X-326 building,” according to the scorecard, which indicates the company has been slow to attain some needed document certifications.
The joint venture, though, is making strides in deactivating the X-333 uranium enrichment building, the scorecard says. The “large component assay system” to analyze potential contamination has proven reliable and exceeded expectations, DOE said. The deactivation also involves disconnecting utilities at the building.
The Energy Department also “is frustrated with the delays in developing the air modeling report for the site,” according to the scorecard, which did not offer detail on the purpose of the report. However, Fluor-BWXT is credited for coordinating efforts to establish an integrated ambient air monitoring program involving DOE and state agencies. The scorecard did not indicate if this has any relation to an ongoing investigation of radioactive contamination at a local school building.
Five notices of violation (NOVs) were issued to Fluor-BWXT in 2019, although the document did not indicate what the violations involved or what agencies issued them.
Fluor-BWXT earned 72% of its potential fee for fiscal 2018, or $17 million of a potential $24 million. The business is working under its second and final 30-month option period under a 10-year, $3.4 billion decontamination and decommissioning contract that started in March 2011.
Four Rivers Garners 67% of Potential Fee for Paducah Remediation
Separately, Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, the Jacobs-led deactivation and cleanup contractor at the Energy Department’s Paducah Site in Kentucky, earned 67% of its potential fee for work during fiscal 2019, or $6.97 million of a possible $10.38 million, according to a recent performance scorecard.
The vendor pocketed just over $1 million of a possible $2.33 million on DOE’s subjective review. It won $5.95 million of a potential $8.05 million of the more quantitative performance-based incentive fee.
The performance by Four Rivers, which consists of Jacobs, Fluor, and BWX Technologies, is slightly better than that cited in the prior scorecard a year ago. At that time it claimed 60%, or $5.7 million, of its potential $9.5 million fee for fiscal 2018.
This time around, the vendor team was judged “very good” on implementation of business systems, and “satisfactory” in five other categories: quality, schedule, cost control, management, and regulatory compliance.
“Overall, the contractor did not meet some of the contractual requirements and expectations” for quality, DOE said in the scorecard.
“Recurring issues include: failure to follow approved procedures, inadequate work planning and control, ineffective corrective actions to prevent issue recurrence, and inadequate control of equipment,” the evaluation adds. Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership has launched improvement programs, but more progress is needed, the agency said.
The vendor was credited for strong safety performance, community outreach, and effective management of nuclear material. It also designed and built two new cells at an on-site landfill.
Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership “did not provide adequate legal support and interpretations for regulatory decisions,” DOE said in the scorecard, without citing specific examples. But the agency added that the vendor brought in additional legal help in July 2019 and things are improving on that front.
Four Rivers is still in the five-year base period of a potential 10-year, $1.49 billion contract that started in June 2017. The work includes deactivating and tearing down old buildings at the former gaseous diffusion plant, and managing waste.
Depleted Uranium Contractor Wins More Than Two-Thirds of Fee
Mid-America Conversion Services, (MCS) the contractor in charge of operating depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion facilities at Portsmouth and Paducah, won roughly 69% of its potential fee for fiscal 2019.
That represents $2.42 million of a potential $3.5 million for the federal budget year.
The joint venture comprised of Atkins, Westinghouse, and Fluor, secured $771,000 of almost $1.5 million in subjective fee, according to the scorecard. It also earned $1.65 million of a potential $2 million available in the period for its performance-based incentives.
The facilities at DOE’s two former gaseous diffusion plants convert DUF6 into to a more stable uranium oxide form for eventual disposal. The DUF6 was generated over decades of uranium enrichment for the defense and nuclear power industries.
A year ago, Mid-America earned $2.5 million of a potential $3.76 million in potential fee for its performance during fiscal 2018.
On its objective performance, Mid-America was deemed “excellent” on its use of small businesses, “very good” on regulatory compliance, “good” on management, and “satisfactory” in the areas of quality, schedule, and cost control, according to the document.
Mid-America employees have worked injury-free since March 2, 2019. Prior to January 2019, the vendor recorded more than 3.1 million worker-hours without a loss-time incident.
The vendor has a five-year, $319 million contract that began in February 2017.
“MCS has significant difficulty submitting cost proposals in the timeframes desired by DOE, even though DOE is providing significant time to prepare such cost proposals,” according to the document. “Work is not performed in accordance with schedules,” the agency said.
Controlling spending is also an issue for Mid-America, DOE said: “However, for the third evaluation period in a row, MCS spending was not effectively managed throughout the fiscal year.”
The vendor team continually improves cybersecurity and “proactively guards against threats,” according to the scorecard. The agency also praised MCS for its safeguards and security, and nuclear material control and accountability programs.
The Mid-America website says the company converted 1,116 cylinders of DUF6 into 14,113 metric tons of uranium oxide during fiscal 2019. “MCS exceeded the combined site annual conversion goal, while maintaining safe operations and cultivating a one-project management mindset,” EM Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) Manager Robert Edwards said in a DOE statement.
There are roughly 63,000 cylinders filled with DUF6 stored at the Paducah and Portsmouth sites, according to the company’s website. Potential disposal locations under study by DOE are the EnergySolutions site in Utah, the Waste Control Specialists site in Texas, and the Nevada National Security Site.
