House Appropriators Want More Info on How DOE Will Complete Hanford Vit Plant

House appropriators are not supporting the Department of Energy’s request for funding next year for modifications at the Hanford tank farms to accelerate an effort to begin waste processing at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant’s Low Activity Waste (LAW) Facility ahead of other portions of the plant. The House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, set to be considered by the full Appropriations Committee today, would provide $578 million for tank farm activities at Hanford, $71 million less than what DOE had requested. “The recommendation defers funding for modifications needed for direct feed of the Waste Treatment Plant until the Department has provided more clarity on its multi-year cost and schedule plans,” says the committee report accompanying the bill.

DOE has proposed establishing a direct feed capability for the WTP’s LAW Facility and begin processing waste there by the end of 2022 while moving forward on other portions of the Hanford vit plant where technical challenges have delayed construction. While the House bill would match DOE’s request of $690 million for construction work at the WTP, appropriators want more information from the Department on how the entire facility will be completed. “Though the Department has made progress in resolving the WTP’s design problems through its proposal for direct feed, the Committee is concerned that the Department still does not have an overarching programmatic strategy to deliver the WTP, does not have a project baseline that is aligned with the contract structure, and has limited ability to monitor project performance because the contractor is no longer reporting earned value management system data against a resource-loaded schedule,” the committee report says.

The report goes on to state, “The Committee does not support increasing the overall annual amount of funding for WTP construction until the Department has provided the Committee with a cost estimate to begin processing liquid waste and a clear schedule to accomplish that goal. In addition, the Department must account for its maintenance and operating costs and continued design and testing activities that are needed for the portions of the project that are delayed due to unresolved safety-related design issues. The Committee supports continued flat funding for the period of time that the Department needs to better refine its cost and schedule plans and provide those details to the Congress.”