The Army Corps of Engineers is expected to turn the High Explosives Pressing Facility over to Pantex Plant contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security later this month, and Corps officials say construction of the facility is expected to cost $66.97 million, just slightly over its $65 million budget. Dan Johnson, the area engineer and administrative contracting officer in the Corps’ Tulsa Office, said technical issues and weather delays slowed the project at times, pushing completion of the project by construction contractor Kiewit Building Group back from the end of 2013 to this month. “We had to work though some coordination of equipment, how you tie it into the facility,” Johnson told NS&D Monitor. “Nothing earth shattering. It was bringing in a complicated piece of equipment and tying it in and getting it set up where it operates safely.”
Bruce Conrad, who oversaw the project for Kiewit, said the uniqueness of the facility presented some challenges. “The schedule extensions were really a reflection of the unusual character of the systems,” he said. “These are kind of one-off systems that are not everyday things for anybody. We’ve attacked that.” Once the facility is turned over to CNS, it will undergo a rigorous and extensive testing and startup period.
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