Amentum-led Savannah River Remediation, the liquid waste contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, took home almost $64 million or 98% of its total potential fee for work done over an 18-month period ending Sept. 30, 2020.
The contractor was rated “very good” on its subjective fee as determined by DOE, claiming $9.2 million out of a potential $10.2 million, or roughly 90% of the available take, DOE said in a Dec.30 press release and in its accompanying scorecard.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management’s site manager, Mike Budney, praised the contractor for reaching key milestones during the period including: preparing the liquid waste facilities for the increased demands posed by hot commissioning of the Salt Waste Processing Facility in October; finishing the removal of bulk waste from Tank 10 and processing its salt waste via tank-closure cesium removal; and taking “proactive and aggressive steps” to reduce worker health risks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is about 36 million gallons of radioactive waste left over from nuclear weapons work at the DOE site near the Georgia border, which is currently stored in 49 underground carbon-steel waste tanks.
The DOE scorecard did list “worker safety incidents” as one area for one area for improvement.
The Amentum-led Savannah River Remediation also includes Bechtel, Jacobs and BWX Technologies. The team has handled liquid waste management at Savannah River since July 2009 and is scheduled to stay on through September. The current contract is valued at $7.4 billion.
In October, DOE issued a request for proposals for a follow-on liquid waste contract called the Savannah River Site Integrated Mission Completion Contract: a potentially 15-year, $21-billion agreement.
Hanford Contractors Praised for COVID Work
The Department of Energy liked what it saw in Washington River Protection Solutions’ tank waste management at the Hanford Site in Washington state during fiscal 2020.
On Dec. 29, the DOE awarded the Amentum-Atkins partnership about $42.58 million or 95% out of a potential $45 million in fees for overseeing Hanford’s highly radioactive and chemical waste stored in 177 underground tanks during the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.
The contractor team earned 100% of its objective goals for $28.79 million in addition to 85% or $13.79 million for its subjectively-judged performance by DOE.
The contractor was rated “excellent” by DOE for implementing its safety program as well as managing its response to the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020. Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) was rated “very good” or “good” in eight other areas, while two other areas connected with planned transition to a new tank farms manager were “deleted.”
Also in December, DOE canceled the$13-billion tank closure contract awarded in May to a BWX Technologies-led team. The agency said just before Christmas it would instead keep the incumbent on until at least September of 2021.
Washington River Protection Solutions was also praised for starting early construction of the tank-side cesium removal project.
Likewise, three other contractors at the DOE’s largest and most expensive cleanup site did well in scorecards published by the agency this week. Those contractors are nearing the end of their tenure and won’t be sticking around deep into 2021.
Jacobs subsidiary CH2M Plateau Remediation ends its run as Hanford’s Central Plateau cleanup contractor Jan. 24. That is also the same date as Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance’s last day as the landlord contractor for Hanford.
Also heading out soon is Veolia, which by virtue of acquiring Wastren Advantage holds the current Laboratory Analysis and Testing Contract at Hanford’s 222-S Laboratory. The contractor will exit 100 days from Jan. 5. A Navarro-led team will take over the lab.
CH2M Plateau Remediation claimed $17.16 million or roughly 85% of a potential $20.1 million available fee in fiscal 2020. The company netted more than two-thirds, $6.48 million, of a potential $9.42 million in subjective fee. A fixed base fee rounded out the total.
The DOE gave CH2M kudos for coping with the coronavirus, securing permits to support direct-feed-low-activity waste and treating over 2.4 billion gallons of groundwater. The Jacobs contractor needed to improve its subcontractor audits as well as its nuclear safety interface with DOE, according to the scorecard.
Mission Support Alliance, the Leidos-Centerra team that oversees landlord chores like road maintenance, recordkeeping and site security, got good marks for the period between October 2019 and May 25, 2020.
Mission Support Alliance pulled down about 93% or $16.85 million out of a potential $18.2-million. The DOE praised the contractor for spearheading Hanford’s implementation of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. It also helped thousands of Hanford’s employees move to remote work and kept the lights and other utilities on as much of Hanford’s workforce starting returning on-site in late May.
Finally, Veolia earned $232,000 out of a potential $250,000 in fee for the period between Sept. 21, 2019 and Sept. 20 of this year. The DOE noted that laboratory technicians enjoyed a nearly 98% rating for proficient and on-time delivery of analysis tests from waste tank samples at Hanford.
