Workers for Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth's On-Site Waste Disposal Facility construction project place the facility’s first liner.
Workers for Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth's On-Site Waste Disposal Facility construction project place the facility’s first liner.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – EM has awarded fees to three prime contractors at its Portsmouth, Ohio and Paducah, Kentucky cleanup sites based on their performance in fiscal 2019.

EM releases information relating to contractor fee payments to further transparency in its cleanup program. Annual evaluations determine the portion of contractor fees to be paid based on performance. EM’s cost-plus-award-fee contracts are designed to provide incentives for excellence.

The deactivation and decommissioning contractor for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, was awarded $19.2 million, or approximately 86 percent of the fee available for its performance. The fiscal year ran from October 2018 through September 2019.

At Paducah, Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership was awarded $6.9 million, or approximately 67 percent of the available fee, for its work on deactivation and remediation of the gaseous diffusion plant site there.

Mid-America Conversion Services was awarded $2.4 million, or approximately 69 percent of the available fee, for its operation and maintenance of the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion facilities at both sites.

Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP)

According to EM's evaluation, FBP’s project management at Portsmouth was “very good,” while its performance in the areas of environment, safety, health, and quality, and regulatory requirements was deemed “satisfactory.” FBP met all of its performance-based incentives, netting $15.59 million.

The evaluation cited excellent progress on construction of the On-Site Waste Disposal Facility while the contractor maintained effective building deactivation, safety, security, and public outreach activities. The evaluation also highlighted progress in preparing the X-333 uranium-enrichment process building for demolition. EM identified the delayed completion of the X-326 Process Building deactivation and software quality assurance issues as areas for improvement.

A deactivation worker with Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership helps secure a component from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant to a trailer to be shipped off-site.
A deactivation worker with Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership helps secure a component from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant to a trailer to be shipped off-site.

Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership (FRNP)

At Paducah, FRNP was rated “very good” in its implementation of business systems, and “satisfactory” in areas of quality, schedule, cost control, management, and regulatory compliance. The contractor earned 74 percent of its performance-based incentive fees.

FRNP posted strong overall safety results, excelled in community outreach activities, efficiently managed nuclear and excess materials, and effectively monitored and prioritized critical-systems maintenance according to safety significance.

Areas identified for improvement include quality of certain regulatory and contract deliverables; effectiveness of work planning, control, and corrective actions; cost and schedule performance; management responsiveness to EM concerns; and regulatory compliance issues. EM noted that some major scope areas fell behind schedule during the performance period, including the C-400 Complex remedial investigation and C-400 Building deactivation.

Nathan Maynard, an operations technician with Mid-America Conversion Services, moves a depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) storage cylinder at the Portsmouth DUF6 conversion facility.
Nathan Maynard, an operations technician with Mid-America Conversion Services, moves a depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) storage cylinder at the Portsmouth DUF6 conversion facility.

Mid-America Conversion Services (MCS)

At the DUF6 conversion facilities, MCS’ contract performance was rated “excellent” for use of small businesses, “very good” for regulatory compliance, “good” for management, and “satisfactory” for quality, schedule, and cost control.

MCS’ scorecard highlighted the achievement of 3.1 million safe work hours earlier in the year, as well as its Voluntary Protection Program Star status. The contractor earned $1.6 million for meeting performance-based incentives, including processing of non-standard and defective cylinders and demonstrating sustained high production rates for conversion.

“MCS exceeded the combined site annual conversion goal, while maintaining safe operations and cultivating a one-project management mindset,” EM Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) Manager Robert Edwards said.

The fiscal 2019 award fee scorecards and other information about the three PPPO contracts is available here.