Bechtel Hanford Inc. and the Department of Energy face potential fines of almost $150,000 for the alleged mishandling of about one gallon of hazardous chemical wastes.

But federal and state regulators are more mad about how Bechtel handled the incident - saying Bechtel was not forthright in its dealings with them on the matter.

"A serious breach of trust" occurred, said a Wednesday letter to DOE and Bechtel from the U.S Environmental Protection Agency and Washington's Department of Ecology. Bechtel and DOE have 10 days to reply to the regulatory agencies.

Mike Hughes, Bechtel's vice president for operations, was surprised by the breach-of-trust charge Wednesday. "What I believe is that there are some miscommunications among various parties," Hughes said. The breach-off-trust charge "hurts," he said.

DOE issued a written statement saying it will study the matter and respond within the 10 days.

The potential fines are:

- Up to $140,000 in state and federal fines for Bechtel not having an approved federally mandated "waste control plan" at U Plant from June 22 to Sept. 29 and for not having an approved "sampling and analysis plan." The lack of a waste control plan for more than three months accounts for $135,000 of that potential maximum fine. The lack of a sampling plan accounts for the other $5,000.

- A $9,700 state fine for keeping the waste container on a storage pad beyond its 90-day limit.

U Plant is one of Hanford's contaminated Cold War plutonium extraction facilities.

The letter from the EPA and state said that state inspector Bob Wilson looked over U Plant's outside compound on Sept. 16. His inspection included a concrete pad where nonradioactive wastes can be kept up to 90 days before disposal under a federal law. One small container had been there for 87 days and had not been sampled or analyzed. Wilson warned Bechtel about the upcoming deadline.

Wilson checked with Bechtel on Sept. 21. He was told the container was regulated by a different federal law, and that the 90-day deadline was not applicable. Then Wilson asked for the waste control plan required by the second federal law and was told it did not exist.

The letter said Bechtel submitted a waste control plan for approval on Sept. 28 to the appropriate EPA and state project managers - but did not tell them about Wilson's compliance concerns. Consequently, those regulator project managers did not consult with Wilson and did not know all the circumstances prompting Bechtel to submit the plan, the letter said.

"The point is (Bechtel) not being truthful with (its) cleanup partners. ... This does jeopardize that relationship," said Doug Sherwood, the EPA's Hanford site manager.

Then on Oct. 4, Bechtel declared that the container's waste was radioactive because it was found at a site contaminated by radiation. On Oct. 6, it was treated and buried in a huge central Hanford landfill for contaminated rubble and items - without notifying Wilson or addressing his concerns, the letter said.

This container's wastes were never sampled or analyzed. That lack of analysis irks state and EPA officials, who say there is no confirmation of what that container held. "They didn't know what was in it," Wilson said.

Bechtel believes the container held tributyl phosphate. Hughes said that conclusion is based on historical knowledge of tributyl phosphate found in a pipe system eight years ago. He believes that pipe system is also the source of the material in the container. Historical knowledge is a legal basis to characterize wastes under Hanford's rules, he said.

The letter discounted using information from an 8-year-old sample, saying the 1991 and 1999 wastes came from different spots in the pipe system in respect to the U Plant's chemical processes. That raises a question of if one sample might be a backwash with a different chemical makeup, the letter said.

Hughes said there was no waste control plan on the project that found the container because no wastes were expected in the pipes Bechtel was working on. Hughes said Bechtel acted in good faith throughout the matter and thought it was adequately communicating with the regulators. He questioned how well the regulators communicated among themselves on this issue.

Hughes said Bechtel moves and buries countless tons of contaminated materials without running afoul of numerous routine inspections. "We had no reason to zigzag around the regulators. ... We also take this trust thing seriously," he said. Bechtel plans to meet soon with regulators on the matter.