ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 22, 1997 TAG: 9704220072
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Energy Department planned a relatively inexpensive cleanup under a fixed-price contract.
Two years after the government chose a plutonium-loaded acre in the Idaho desert to showcase a better, cheaper way to clean up nuclear waste, not a spade of dirt has been turned. Yet the contractor just asked for $158 million more, which could double the price.
Instead of being a model for cost-effectiveness, the project at Pit 9 has been bogged down by technical glitches and fallen far behind schedule, according to documents and interviews.
The problems threaten to run up a total cost in excess of $300million to clean the 1-acre field - a two-hour drive from Yellowstone National Park - where the soil is too toxic for anyone to touch.
The Energy Department planned to spend no more than $179 million on the cleanup under a 1994 fixed-price contract with Lockheed Martin Advanced Environmental Systems Co.
Lockheed was to design, build and operate a special leaching system to sift through and treat the pit, where several thousand 55-gallon drums containing radioactive material and spent nuclear reactor vessels are buried with a plethora of toxic wastes such as PCBs, lead and ammonia.
The first-of-its-kind facility was supposed to be a model for the Energy Department's effort to shift cleanup work to the private sector.
Just last year, the department boasted to Congress that the project was ``highly successful in reducing costs,'' estimating the fixed-price contract would save $134 million.
Now, Idaho state officials blame the government, the Energy Department blames the contractor, and Lockheed says excessive bureaucratic meddling and more-than-expected pollution are driving up the costs.
``These are very disturbing developments,'' said Rep. Tom Bliley, R-Va., and Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, in a letter to Energy Secretary Federico Pena. Bliley is chairman of the House committee that oversees Energy, while Barton chairs its investigative subcommittee.
``This site was supposed to be cleaned up for $179 million,'' their letter reads. Instead, Lockheed has asked for a price ``adjustment'' of an additional $158 million and ``nothing has yet been cleaned up,'' the lawmakers lamented.
The Energy Department says its hands are mostly tied because the contract put Lockheed in charge and gave the company free rein to build the system as it saw fit.
If the department asks for changes, Lockheed can ask for more money.
``You have to understand the nature of the contract,'' Energy spokesman Brad Bugger said. ``We can't dictate how they do their work.''
``What we were doing was a pioneering effort, and we ran into some problems,'' said Steve Harry, a Lockheed spokesman. ``Now we need a way to solve the problems.''
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB