The price tag and schedule for the Waste Solidification Building has jumped for the second time in about a month and could go even higher as the project continues to recover from major management issues and design problems, the National Nuclear Security Administration told Congress yesterday. In a briefing on Capitol Hill, the NNSA said that the facility is now expected to cost $404 million and be completed in November of 2014, up from a $384 million price tag and June 2014 targeted completion date provided to Congress last month. The cost is $59.5 million more than the facility’s $344.5 million baseline that was established in 2008, and the schedule delay represents a 14-month slip. But the NNSA has not yet validated the cost estimate, and there is concern among Congressional staff that the price tag could rise even further. “It’s like a moving target,” one staffer told NW&M Monitor.
The project’s issues came to a head in June when the NNSA accused Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions of being “negligent” in its management of the project by not addressing design problems that have driven current cost and schedule increases. The facility is intended to process waste streams from the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility being built at Savannah River. Late last month, the NNSA asked Congress for an additional $32.2 million in Fiscal Year 2012 to help address the project’s cost increases. The NNSA and SRNS did not respond to a request for comment.
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