February 1, 2016

Corrective Action Program at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant

The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), when complete, will be the world’s largest radioactive waste treatment plant, with an approved budget of $12.3 billion.  Bechtel National, Inc., (Bechtel) is the contractor responsible for the design, construction, and commissioning of the WTP.  According to Bechtel’s Corrective Action Management Program, the Integrated Issues Management Policy establishes the Corrective Action Management Program as the primary issues management program for documenting and resolving conditions adverse to quality identified at the WTP.  

We found that the WTP corrective action program was not fully effective in managing and resolving issues.  Some required issues were not managed and tracked in the corrective action program, corrective actions were not implemented in a timely manner, and Bechtel failed to follow through on implementing prior corrective action program improvement initiatives.  

Weaknesses with Bechtel’s corrective action program have been reported for years.  Although Bechtel has acknowledged these weaknesses and developed multiple improvement plans, in several cases these initiatives were not fully implemented or sustained.  

Topic: Management & Administration