$125 Million Settlement for Hanford Nuclear Whistleblowers in False Claims Act Case Against Bechtel and URS

The Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state is the most contaminated nuclear facility in the United States, the product of decades of weapons-grade plutonium production. A portion of the cleanup work falls to a massive vitrification plant designed to convert millions of gallons of radioactive waste into stable glass. Three former managers on that project, Gary Brunson, Donna Busche, and Walter Tamosaitis, spent years raising internal safety concerns about the quality of materials and construction practices at the plant. When their warnings were dismissed and their careers derailed, they turned to federal court.

In 2013, the three filed a sealed qui tam complaint under the False Claims Act in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. Their lawsuit named Bechtel National, Bechtel Corp., URS Corp., and URS Energy and Construction as defendants. The core allegation: for more than a decade, the contractors knowingly charged the Department of Energy for materials, services, and testing that failed to meet the stringent nuclear-quality standards required at a radioactive waste treatment facility. A second set of allegations targeted Bechtel specifically, accusing the company of illegally using taxpayer contract funds to run a multiyear lobbying campaign aimed at securing continued congressional support for the project.

The Department of Energy had already withheld millions of dollars in Bechtel performance incentive pay over construction quality concerns and had ordered extensive reviews of equipment. Federal investigators with the DOE Office of Inspector General and the FBI joined the case. After more than three years under seal, the United States chose to partially intervene, adopting the allegations concerning deficient nuclear-quality procurements and the illegal lobbying. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, Michael Ormsby, described the lobbying conduct plainly: 'Illegal lobbying contravenes the established lawful process that is designed to provide independent federal oversight.'

On November 23, 2016, the parties reached a settlement totaling $125 million. Bechtel and its affiliates agreed to pay $67.5 million; URS and its successor entities, by then part of AECOM, agreed to pay $57.5 million. Under the False Claims Act, the three relators were collectively entitled to a share of the government's recovery. Their combined award came to $31.25 million, representing 25 percent of the total settlement fund.

Lambert Zainey, representing the three whistleblowers, filed the original complaint that set the case in motion. The result stands as one of the largest False Claims Act settlements arising from nuclear cleanup contracting in the country's history.