Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Department of Energy's $12.2 Billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant – Quality Assurance Issues – Black Cell Vessels

The Office of Inspector General received allegations concerning aspects of the quality assurance program at the Department of Energy's $12.2 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) project in Hanford, Washington. The WTP is a key element in the Department's strategy for remediating its significant legacy inventory of high-level nuclear waste.
RESULTS OF AUDIT
Our review substantiated the allegation. In short, we found that the Department had procured and installed vessels in WTP that did not always meet quality assurance and/or contract requirements. For the vessels that we reviewed, we identified multiple instances where quality assurance records were either missing or were not traceable to the specific area or part of the vessel. We also found that the Department paid the WTP contractor a $15 million incentive fee for production of a vessel that was later determined to be defective.
Read report here.

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