Contractor Parsons’ “degrading performance” while testing and commissioning the Savannah River Site’s $2 billion Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) could push its start of operations back by several months, according to a notice of concern from the Department of Energy.
Rather than the long-anticipated beginning of operations in December, the facility now is expected to begin treating waste in March 2019, according to the March 7 notice from Pamela Marks, federal project director for the facility, and Samuel Stewart, a contracting officer with DOE’s Savannah River Operations Office.
The notice says Parsons has severely underperformed in several areas of the contract, including personnel management, safety and regulatory protocol, and properly correcting its errors. Weapons Complex Morning Briefing obtained a copy of the letter, which was addressed to Frank Sheppard, SWPF project manager for Parsons.
Parsons inked a deal with the Energy Department in 2002 to design and build the SWPF, plus one year of operations. That contract, valued at about $2 billion, expires on Sept. 30, 2020.
The laundry list of issues under Parsons’ leadership began immediately after construction of the Salt Waste Processing Facility was completed in June 2016, according to the five-page letter. “Since construction completion, Parsons has not maintained adequate control of the SWPF facility and personnel resulting in evens and personnel errors adversely impacting project performance,” Marks and Stewart wrote.
For the last decade SRS has treated the salt waste using a pilot facility. The Salt Waste Processing Facility is expected to increase waste processing from 1.5 million gallons per year to 6 million. Once the salt waste is separated from other materials, the final product would be sent to storage facilities at SRS for permanent disposal.
Construction of the facility was completed in June 2016 and cost $2.3 billion. At that time, the Energy Department declared the December 2018 startup date, which was expected to allow enough time for testing and commissioning.
Parsons on Wednesday referred questions to DOE.
