Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Project Receives DOE VPP 'Star'.

BOISE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 5, 1999--

Morrison Knudsen Corporation (MK)(NYSE:MK) announced today that the Department of Energy's (DOE) Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Project (WSSRAP) has received the DOE's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) "Star" status.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson came to the Weldon Spring site on Wednesday to formally announce the recognition and present MK's project team the award and Star Flag.

"This award represents the culmination of several years of effort by labor and management working together to achieve the highest levels of safety and health program performance," said Richardson. "Less than 500 work sites in this country have received this award. Only three other Energy-Department sites have achieved the `Star' level of performance. Considering that there are more than six-million workplaces in the private sector, this is a true testament to your commitment to safety and health and your commitment to one another."

Adding his praise, Thomas H. Zarges, president and chief executive officer of MK Engineers and Constructors Group, said, "I am proud of the work MK has done on this project. Safety is our number one priority in all we do. The workers at this site should be proud of their efforts in achieving this award."

Accepting the award and flag on behalf of MK's project team, Doug Steffen, MK's project director stated, "The employees at the Weldon Spring site have worked very hard to make safety their top priority. We are honored to fly the Star Flag at this site, both as a symbol of our accomplishment and as a reminder of the day-to-day importance of safety."

The VPP Star Award is the highest honor the DOE gives for safety performance and excellence. It reflects the culmination of successful implementation and subsequent verification of a project's Integrated Safety Management (ISM) system, a system designed to improve safety at all DOE sites. WSSRAP is the third DOE site to receive this award and the first environmental restoration project to receive it. By September 2000, all DOE sites will be required to have an ISM system in place.

Conducting the ISM verification at the WSSRAP, Harold Monroe, DOE inspector for the project, explained that the site had met, "the functions and principles of the ISM system and they have been established and adequately implemented."

In addition, Monroe stated the WSSRAP could be used as an example for meeting ISM system standards for other DOE sites. "Having visited WSSRAP during the early years of cleanup, I am impressed by its success in developing and improving the relationships it has with the local population, local and state government, and regulators," said Monroe. "All of DOE could learn and benefit from these efforts."

MK has been managing the cleanup efforts at WSSRAP since 1986. Weldon Spring was the site of the nation's largest explosive plant during World War II. From 1955 to 1966, the Atomic Energy Commission, which later became the DOE, developed an uranium feeds material plant and processed uranium ore, which was instrumental in the country's pursuit of nuclear materials. The plant was dormant until 1986 when the DOE assumed cleanup efforts.

The project is expected to be complete September 2002 when the 45-acre disposal facility is finished. This facility will serve as the burial ground for some 1.48-million cubic yards of contaminated-waste materials.

Morrison Knudsen Corporation (NYSE:MK) has 23,500 employees at work in more than 35 countries serving the nuclear-services, energy, environmental, government, heavy-civil, industrial, mining, operations and maintenance, process, transportation, and water-resource markets as an engineer, constructor, and program manager.

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