DOE fines Oak Ridge contractor $247,500 for mishaps

A chemical fire at DOE’s former uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge exposed four workers to radioactive materials and forced a daylong evacuation of about 150 people living within a half-mile of the plant.

One week later, a waste tank of strontium 90, a fission byproduct, leaked onto a state highway as it was hauled from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to a new treatment facility within DOE’s 33,000-acre Oak Ridge reservation.

No one was hurt but the road had to be repaved, costing more than $1 million.

In determining the fines against Bechtel Jacobs Co., “DOE considered the actual and potential safety significance associated with each event or issue … and the recurring nature of the violations,” DOE enforcement chief Stephen Sohinki wrote the company.

DOE concluded that the chemical fire was preventable and the strontium leak, which prompted a broad-scale emergency response, was due to inadequate work by the cleanup contractors.

Ordinarily, such fines are assessed against the subcontractors in the field. “In this case, however, DOE views the burden of responsibility as resting with” Bechtel Jacobs, Sohinki wrote.

“One of our top safety priorities is to improve the performance of subcontractors, and to do that we need to hold prime contractors responsible,” Assistant Energy Secretary John Shaw said in a statement.

Bechtel Jacobs was “in the process of reviewing” the proposed fine, company spokesman Dennis Hill said Thursday.

Meanwhile, he said the contractor “has already implemented a number of corrective actions … to ensure that our work is done safely and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.”

Wrote Sohinki: “DOE will continue to monitor completion of corrective actions until these matters are resolved.”