LEXINGTON, Ky. – EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) recently awarded the Portsmouth Site decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) contractor about $16.6 million, or 75 percent of the total fee available for its performance at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant cleanup site in southern Ohio from March 2021 through March 2022.

Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth's (FBP) quality and effectiveness performing and managing the contract was “very good,” and the prime contractor was rated “good” in the categories of environment, safety, health and quality (ESH&Q), and regulatory work, according to the award fee determination scorecard.

The cleanup program releases information relating to contractor fee payments — earned by completing work called for in the contracts — to further transparency in its cleanup program.

The Portsmouth Site contractor met most of its performance-based incentive tasks, including the start of structural demolition of the X-326 uranium-enrichment process building, completion of the On-Site Waste Disposal Facility (OSWDF) liner for two of the facility’s cells and operation of another cell.

FBP performed “outstanding” fieldwork execution, including startup and operation of three modular water treatment systems and a unique, 7-acre water detention system to support demolition; excavation of contaminated soils and large-scale hauling of demolition debris and engineered fill from the excavation and demolition areas to the OSWDF; debris and fill placement in the facility; construction of two waste cells; and early construction work on three future waste cells.

FBP was effective in enabling the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio Department of Health to independently operate onsite air monitoring stations co-located with DOE-operated air monitoring stations, according to the scorecard. The air-monitoring program is key to ensuring the health and safety of workers and plant neighbors during cleanup operations.

The scorecard noted safety incidents in the first quarter of calendar year 2022, prompting a safety stand-down. EM noted programmatic weaknesses in environmental protection, radiation protection, and nuclear material control and accountability. A weakness in characterizing buildings in deactivation also increased cost and caused delays during FBP’s performance period, according to the scorecard.

“While there are a few concerns in the areas of deactivation characterization, safety and environmental protection going forward, FBP deserves credit for simultaneously standing up multiple complicated and interdependent functions during this time,” PPPO Manager Joel Bradburne said. “As a result, we are seeing the most significant skyline changes to date at Portsmouth.”

View the FBP award fee determination scorecard here.