A long and contentious battle over construction costs for the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility has ended with an out-of-court settlement, but it’s still not clear how much money is changing hands because the agreement reportedly contains a confidentiality clause covering all aspects of the deal. Caddell/Blaine Joint Venture, which managed construction of the $549 million facility at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, and its host of subcontractors had filed claims totaling more than $60 million in a series of lawsuits that were ultimately combined as one in negotiations with B&W Y-12, the government’s managing contractor at the Oak Ridge plant. In a countersuit, B&W had sought $17 million in damages from Caddell/Blaine, and both parties had claimed breach of contract.
Warren Barrow, executive vice president with Alabama-based Caddell Construction of Alabama, which managed the HEUMF construction in a joint venture with Blaine Construction of Knoxville, confirmed the settlement and said the claims were settled about a week ago. "The terms of the settlement are confidential, so I am not at liberty to comment on any part of the agreement," he said. Ellen Boatner, a spokeswoman for B&W Y-12, said in email, "All claims relating to HEUMF have been settled, and the terms of the settlement are confidential."
The debate over costs began well before the construction of the HEUMF was completed in 2008 and grew even more bitter when it reached U.S. District Court in 2010. Some of the smaller companies involved in the project reportedly teetered on bankruptcy during the years-long wait for payments. The construction team claimed that their work often got delayed or had to be redone as the designs for HEUMF continually changed after construction began. That, in turn, forced up costs and made the job much more difficult. B&W argued that some of the problems were due to the Caddell/Blaine team’s lack of experience in constructing high-end nuclear facilities. "Caddell/Blaine struggled with the quality of its work," B&W said in its lawsuit. In a July 30 order, U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips granted a stay of the court proceedings because of the pending agreement. "The parties state they recently reached a global agreement in principle and are in the process of executing settlement documents and satisfying settlement obligations," he wrote. The National Nuclear Security Administration declined to comment.
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