Feds reward Hanford vit plant contractor with $5 million, highest pay in three years

The company building the Hanford vitrification plant has received its best performance evaluation in three years.

Bechtel National will receive $5 million in incentive pay for 2019, the Department of Energy announced this week.

It is 64% of the maximum $7.9 million it was eligible to earn based on its annual evaluation.

Bechtel is reimbursed for costs and can earn incentive pay — or “fee” as it is called by DOE — to make a profit on its work to design, build and commission the massive vitrification plant to glassify radioactive waste.

DOE paid Bechtel $3.8 million, just 48% of possible incentive pay, for 2018, and the year before Bechtel also earned just 48% of possible incentive pay.

Bechtel also is eligible for some additional pay when it meets deadlines outlined in its DOE contract for completing certain work.

“As I’ve said many times, 2019 was a transformative year,” said Valerie McCain, Bechtel project director, in a message to employees.

Accomplishments included completing design engineering for parts of the plant, delivering the last of the major equipment for parts of the plant, bringing on board technicians who will commission the plant and moving to a 24/7 shift schedule.

According to DOE’s subjective evaluation of Bechtel’s performance, the contractor was rated “very good” in three categories, including those that covered quality assurance and preparations to integrate operations with other contractors as the plant starts treating low activity radioactive waste by a 2023 deadline.

It received two ratings of “good,” which covered engineering, purchasing, construction, startup and commissioning.

Its lowest rating was a “satisfactory” for its cost and schedule performance. It received just 45% of the $2 million incentive pay available in that category.

Bechtel evaluation

DOE said Bechtel picked up the pace of work in 2019, but at the cost of increased overtime pay.

“Going forward, process and performance improvements will be needed to reduce costs,” DOE said in a scorecard.

Other areas for improvement included a need to pick up the pace in implementing environmental, safety and health programs to support plant commissioning and to resolve issues related to commissioning.

Bechtel’s risk management program has a high level of information, but needs to be more effective in mitigating risk, DOE said.

DOE praised Bechtel for a successful plan to catch up the schedule of work in the second half of 2019.

The contractor has resolved longstanding quality assurance issues and done better on the timely resolution of issues, DOE said.

It has saved money and improved efficiency by identifying and resolving potential issues in areas that include the commissioning and startup processes for operating areas of the plant to be used to treat low activity waste, DOE said.

Construction started on the plant in 2002. The latest federal court order requires DOE to have it treating low activity radioactive waste for disposal by the end of 2023.

The plant must be fully operational, including treating high level radioactive waste, by 2036.

The Hanford nuclear reservation produced plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program from World War II through the Cold War, leaving 56 million gallons of radioactive waste in underground tanks. The vitrification plant, or Waste Treatment Plant, will turn much of that waste into a stable glass form for disposal.

The last complete estimate of the plant’s cost was $17 billion, but the Government Accountability Office estimated the final cost might be $30 billion to $41 billion.