The federal audit raised concerns about delays and increased costs of cleaning up the Plutonium Finishing Plant at Hanford nuclear reservation. The plant produced over half of the plutonium for the US nuclear weapons arsenal during World War II and the Cold War. While the cleanup contract was for $639 million to be completed by 2013, costs have grown 36% to $718 million and the project is behind schedule. Issues include higher labor costs, additional safety work, and delays in decontaminating hazardous glove boxes used to handle radioactive material. The contractor is testing new techniques to accelerate the glove box decontamination.

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Federal audit raises Hanford cleanup concerns
Published: Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 12:19 PM Updated: Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 12:31 PM
By
The Associated Press
YAKIMA -- A federal audit has raised concerns about cleanup delays and costs at a Hanford nuclear
reservation plant where workers produced more than half the plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons
arsenal.
The federal government created south-central Washington's Hanford site in the 1940s as part of the top-
secret project to build the atomic bomb, and the site produced plutonium for nuclear weapons through the
Cold War. Today, Hanford is the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, and cleanup is expected to last
decades.
High on the cleanup list: demolishing more than 60 buildings that make up the Plutonium Finishing Plant,
where plutonium was formed into buttons the size of hockey pucks to be shipped offsite for nuclear
weapons.
The U.S. Department of Energy, which manages Hanford cleanup, in 2008 awarded CH2M Hill Plateau
Remediation Co. a $639 million contract for the work. The contract runs through 2016 but requires that the
work be completed by 2013.
The agency's Office of Inspector General reviewed the contract just through 2013. In a report Monday, it
said the project cost had grown from $528 million to $718 million -- a 36 percent increase -- and the work
was behind schedule as of Sept. 30, despite receiving $330 million in federal stimulus money to speed the
work.
The work is over budget 13 percent when the contract is reviewed in its entirety through 2016, according to
the Energy Department. Those increased costs can be attributed to higher labor costs and additional work
that was asked of the contractor, including structural improvements to ensure worker safety.
"Cleanup of the plutonium finishing plant is a complex project, and the safety of our workers remains a
priority," said Geoff Tyree, spokesman for the Energy Department's Richland Operations office. "The
contractor has done the right thing by carefully addressing safety concerns."
The report also said the 2013 deadline may be missed without improvements in the next 12 months in
decontaminating and demolishing contaminated "glove boxes," which workers used to safely handle

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radioactive material.
Kurt Workman, CH2M Hill spokesman, said the company is testing a new chemical agent to decontaminate
the boxes, which should accelerate the process once it's approved. Progress also was delayed for five
weeks in May when work was stopped sitewide to address concerns about beryllium, a hazardous agent.
So far, 101 of 174 glove boxes have been decontaminated.
"With the efficiency that we're implementing and some of these new things we're using, we'll be able to pick
up that schedule really easily," Workman said.
Tyree said the Energy Department does not anticipate any delays to the overall cleanup schedule from the
glove box work.
-- The Associated Press
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