Three Years After Incident, Still
No Sign of Final Cost for D&D
Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
1/31/2014
URS is wrapping up a project to address the remaining liquid waste at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU), but more than three years after a contamination incident brought work at SPRU largely to a halt, the final cost and schedule for completing D&D efforts at the site remains unclear. Since last spring, URS has been working to remove and solidify the remaining liquid waste at the Building H2 tank farm at SPRU for off-site disposal—a project the Department of Energy has said will address the majority of the remaining radioactivity at the SPRU facilities (WC Monitor, Vol. 24 No. 18). “In 2013, URS solidified more than 9,000 gallons of contaminated sludge material,” contractor spokesman Keith Wood said in a written response late this week. “Currently, sludge liner #21 and #22 are scheduled for shipment to WCS [Waste Control Specialists] and Liners #23 and #24 have been solidified and placed in storage for shipment next week. We anticipate completion of sludge operations early next month,” Wood said. Once the sludge work is completed, URS plans to move to debris and vessel removal activities in Building H2, as well as Building G2—the two remaining facilities to be addressed at SPRU, according to Wood.
Wood declined to comment this week, though, as to the overall cost and project baseline for the SPRU D&D effort or on contract negotiations underway with DOE. URS and the Department have long been in talks over who will be responsible for what costs at the SPRU D&D project (WC Monitor, Vol. 24 No. 25). In 2011, DOE modified URS’ contract to establish a cost cap in response to a set of contamination incidents that significantly set back progress at the project. The modification established a cost-sharing formula in which DOE is responsible for all project costs up to $105 million; DOE and URS will split all costs incurred from $105-145 million; and URS will be fully responsible for covering all costs exceeding $145 million. While the final estimated cost for the project is still not known, URS has been pushing back against being held responsible for a significant portions of the costs to date incurred at SPRU, which have included among other issues, addressing the impacts of bad weather at the site.
As of Sept. 27, URS had incurred total project costs of approximately $252.3 million, according the company’s third quarter 2013 earnings report, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (WC Monitor, Vol. 24 No. 45). That’s $7.9 million more than URS’ last reported total project cost for the SPRU D&D project, which was included in the company’s second quarter 2013 earnings report issued in August. In its most recent earnings report, URS continued to state that, “The final project completion costs are not currently estimable due to continuing delays in permitting, other delays, and approval of a final project plan,” adding that it “can provide no certainty that it will recover the $112.5 million in submitted DOE claims for costs incurred through April 2013 related to REAs, hurricane-caused work or other directed changes, as well as any other project costs after April 2013 that [URS] is obligated to incur to finalize and complete this project including the accounts receivable, any of which could negatively impact URS’ future results of operations.” The DOE Office of Environmental Management did not return calls for comment on the SPRU D&D project this week.
