Record $750-Million Settlement

Brown & Root Inc. announced today that it agreed to pay three utilities and the City of Austin $750 million--reportedly the largest cash legal settlement in U.S. history--to settle a suit over construction of the South Texas Nuclear Project.

The utilities and Austin charged in a $6.3-billion breach-of-contract suit that construction of the Austin plant was mishandled by Brown & Root. The firm, which had had no experience as a nuclear contractor when the project began, was fired as design engineer at the project in 1981.