Friday, August 06, 1999
Fernald cleanup contract up for bid
BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CROSBY TOWNSHIP — A billion-dollar government contract for management of the former Fernald uranium processing plant cleanup is unexpectedly up for grabs.
Fluor Daniel Environmental Management Corp., at the helm during the best and worst times of the last seven years, found out Thursday it will have to compete to finish the job.
The multifaceted, highly technical cleanup of radioactive and hazardous waste spread throughout the 1,050-acre site is expected to take between six and eight more years to complete. The site management contract in fiscal year 1999 alone is worth $270 million.
“We were hopeful that the department was going to choose to negotiate a closure contract with us. We're disappointed,” said John Bradburne, president and CEO of Fluor Daniel Fernald.
But the decision to open the process to bids, announced Thursday by Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, could be good news for taxpayers.
“The value of the competition is that it makes everyone sharpen their pencil,” said Ken Morgan, Department of Energy (DOE) Ohio field office spokesman. “DOE is definitely more inclined to compete projects because it saves taxpayers' money.”
The parameters of the closure contract will be determined over the next few weeks, Mr. Morgan said. But it will likely seek contractors who can promise to clean up and close down the site in the shortest reasonable period of time.
Some observers say that time crunch could lead to corners being cut — a dangerous practice when dealing with the health and safety of approximately 2,000 site workers plus the surrounding community.
During the production years from 1951 through 1989, and through the cleanup that began in 1991, Fernald leaked uranium into the Great Miami Aquifer and its drinking wells, and spread cancer-causing radon gas into the atmosphere. Former workers and area residents say they were sickened by exposure to its many radioactive and chemical toxins, although the government has admitted no such liability.
Fluor Daniel won a five-year initial cleanup contract in 1992, worth $2.04 billion. It was first extended with a two-year option that runs through December, and then a final one-year option that expires in December 2000.
DOE officials say it will take up to 18 months to award the final closure contract.
Fluor Daniel Fernald oversaw a problematic first attempt to empty the highly dangerous waste contained in two crumbling silos, a project that ended in a pilot plant failure, budget overruns and sanctions from the DOE. Critics have said that failure was caused by an attempt to rush the job.
DOE officials say their decision to accept bids on the closure contract is not punitive.
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