Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
1/30/2015
The Department of Energy is in talks with Bechtel National on a potential financial settlement to collectively resolve a number of outstanding safety findings at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, WC Monitor has learned. The settlement reportedly would entail Bechtel National agreeing to pay at least $1 million in fines and other payments to the government to wrap up investigations underway by the DOE Office of Enforcement and to resolve concerns raised by the Office of River Protection, according to officials familiar with the issue. DOE headquarters did not respond to a request for comment this week. Bechtel National declined to comment.
One component of the settlement under discussion, according to officials, would entail Bechtel National receiving a preliminary notice of violation (PNOV) to resolve two open investigations underway by the DOE Office of Enforcement. Such PNOVs typically cite contractors with violations of DOE regulations and come with proposed fines, though those can be mitigated by actions taken by the contractor. One of the DOE investigations, which stretches back to 2011, covers potential nuclear safety noncompliances with Bechtel National’s processes for designing, procuring and installing systems and components used in the WTP, while the other, launched in the summer of 2013, has examined potential noncompliances associated with apparent vessel welding deficiencies.
The other component of the settlement would entail Bechtel National agreeing to a Consent Order to resolve concerns raised over the contractor’s quality assurance and corrective action programs at the WTP. Typically such Consent Orders do not include a formal determination of a violation of DOE regulations, but can include a contractor agreeing to pay a monetary remedy to the federal government.
