RICHLAND, Wash. - EM’s Office of River Protection (ORP) has given Bechtel National (BNI), the contractor for the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), an, according to a recently released award fee scorecard. While BNI achieved some key performance milestones during the performance period, the scorecard also outlines several areas for improvement.
This is the first award fee determination conducted under the revised contract completed in late 2016 for the WTP Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility, Balance of Facilities, and Analytical Laboratory (LAB) work scope.
Within the revised contract, ORP increased the number of performance milestones and realigned award fee, which decreased the total annual award fee available as compared to previous years. BNI will receive about 48 percent of the available award fee, or $3.8 million out of nearly $7.9 million available. In 2016, BNI earned 71 percent of the available fee, or approximately $7.24 million out of an available $10.2 million.
The WTP is intended to process the radioactive waste stored in underground tanks at the Hanford Site through vitrification, which involves combining the tank waste with glass-forming materials and then heating the mixture to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. The material is then poured into stainless steel containers, where it cools to a solid glass form for long-term storage.
ORP is focused on achieving the Direct Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) approach to tank waste treatment as soon as December 2021. DFLAW will use the WTP LAW, LAB, and other ancillary support facilities. These sections of WTP are closer to completion than the two other main sections of WTP - the High-Level Waste (HLW) and Pretreatment facilities.
The scorecard notes that BNI achieved four “construction complete" milestones for the LAW Facility; met EM safety goals for the WTP construction site; and collaborated with ORP to complete the preliminary documented safety analysis to allow construction to resume on the HLW Facility.
An area of improvement, according to the scorecard, focuses on concerns about BNI's ability to achieve contract milestones related to initial operations.
Each year, EM releases information relating to contractor fee payments - earned by completing the work called for in the contracts - to further transparency in its cleanup program.
The full 2017 award fee scorecard is available.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
