The parent company of BWXT Conversion Services, the Energy Department’s prime contractor for depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion in Ohio and Kentucky, said Tuesday it will not protest the award of a follow-on contract to a conglomerate led by competitor Atkins.
“On October 11, BWXT received its debrief from the DOE following the DUF6 contract award announcement, and after careful consideration, BWXT decided not to contest the award,” BWX Technologies spokesman Jud Simmons said by email. “BWXT is proud of the progress the plants and the project made while managing the DUF6 contract and will fully cooperate with the DOE and the incoming contractor for a safe and efficient transition.”
DOE announced on Sept. 29 the Atkins-led Mid-America Conversion Services had won the five-year, $318 million DUF6 follow-on contract. Fluor Corp. and Westinghouse are partners with Atkins on the deal. The contract value was somewhat less than the $400 million to $600 million estimate the agency had provided publicly on multiple occasions.
DOE’s total stockpile of DUF6, a byproduct of Cold War-era uranium enrichment in the two states, once stood at 765,000 metric tons. DUF6 conversion began in July 2010 at the Portsmouth Site near Piketon, Ohio, and is expected to conclude around 2032. Operations at the Paducah Site near Paducah, Ky., started in February 2011 and are slated to finish in 2044. Annual DUF6 processing capacity tops out at 13,500 metric tons a year at Portsmouth, and at 18,000 metric tons a year at Paducah.
The incumbent’s contract runs through January.
