[ RadSafe ] More on Hanford - GAO audit

[Susan Gawarecki]

Below is more on the Hanford controversy.  I expect the real problem is cause number 3--after all they are trying to do something completely new on a huge scale.  Also, the initial cost estimate was developed when design was at 10% completion, so that couldn't have been accurate and was likely optimistic.  Realistically, if the actual expense was stated up front, do you suppose it ever would have been funded?  Just like a certain war we're dealing with.

--Susan Gawarecki 

THE COST OF BUILDING HANFORD'S WASTE TREATMENT PLANT has ballooned to $11 billion, an increase of about 150 percent over the initial cost estimates made in 2000, and the project's completion date has been extended from 2011 to 2017 or later. The federal Government Accountability Office performed an audit of the Department of Energy's construction project at Hanford for Congress and in April reported on the results. According to the audit report, there are three main causes for the cost increases and construction delays. First, the DOE's contractor--Bechtel National, Inc.--displayed "performance shortcomings" in developing project estimates and implementing nuclear safety requirements. Second, the DOE, which manages the Hanford Site, near Richland, Wash., has provided inadequate oversight of Bechtel's performance. Third, the technical challenges have been more difficult than expected. Hanford's waste treatment plant project is a massive effort to stabilize and prepare for disposal 55 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous wastes currently held in underground tanks. To achieve better control of the construction project, the GAO recommended that the DOE consider the feasibility of completing 90 percent of the facility design or facility component design before restarting construction. Further, the GAO said the DOE should ensure that the revised project baseline fully reflects remaining uncertainties and should improve management controls. The audit report, Contractor and DOE Management Problems Have Led to Higher Costs, Construction Delays, and Safety Concerns (GAO-06-602T), is available online at <www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-602T>.

Excerpted from ANS Late News Section / May 2006 Nuclear News