The Energy Department contractor for the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state won 75% of its available fee, $345,810 of a potential $461,080, in its latest six-month performance scorecard.
Contractor CH2M Hill BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) recorded no significant achievements or deficiencies during the period from Aug. 29, 2018, through Feb. 28 of this year.
That is better than its prior review, when DOE withheld a quarter of the potential $461,000 fee after the vendor was hit with a June 2018 notice of violation from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. The infraction was triggered after the contractor shipped a drum of mixed radioactive waste, mislabeled as Class A waste, to an EnergySolutions low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Clive, Utah.
This time around the contractor was rated “very good” in three categories – safety, health, and quality management; business administration; and environmental and regulatory compliance. It was rated “good” for project management.
The CH2M-BWX Technologies joint venture reached over 1 million work hours at West Valley without a lost-time accident or illness, according to DOE. At the same time, there was an increase in the total incident rate for injuries and illnesses during the period.
The Energy Department said the vendor did well in planning and carrying out demolition of the West Valley Vitrification Plant and the stack at the Main Plant Process Building. But it “experienced weaknesses in Project Control, which could affect project performance issues,” DOE said. The scorecard did not detail those weaknesses.
The contractor has a $542.3 million deal from 2011 through early March 2020. It is managing Phase 1 decommissioning at the former nuclear fuel reprocessing site, including teardown of old structures and removing contaminated equipment and waste material.
Last October, DOE issued a request for information (RFI)/sources sought notice for the next stage in cleanup at West Valley. But it has yet to follow up with a draft solicitation, and the latest procurement schedule issued this month by the Office of Environmental Management does list a target date for that document.
Phase 1B of the cleanup, as DOE refers to it, will involve continuing to deactivate and tear down buildings, as well as doing soil remediation. The RFI sought feedback on novel approaches that might fast-forward the ultimate completion of cleanup, currently expected around 2040, according to DOE budget timelines.
