Comments are due Thursday on a request for information notice issued by the Department of Energy on plans to build the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative facility near the Savannah River National Laboratory site in South Carolina.
The estimated $45-million facility will be built on about five acres within the campus of the University of South Carolina-Aiken in Aiken, S.C., not far from DOE’s Savannah River Site.
The Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative facility is in the works because DOE needs “safer, more cost-effective nuclear chemical manufacturing technology, facilities and expertise” to speed radioactive and chemical waste cleanup and to comply with government regulations, according to the Request for Information and Sources Sought (RFI) notice.
The new facility would work in tandem with national laboratories, commercial entities, and educational institutions, “to stimulate innovative thinking and to adapt innovative technologies to accomplish DOE missions,” according to the RFI.
It is envisioned that the new facility will provide between 40,000 to 70,000 square-feet of space, enough to house no fewer than 120 staff members, including some now stationed at SRNL. The building will include laboratories, digital equipment, classrooms, office space and conference rooms.
The department must still determine if this should be a set-aside for small business. The chief contact person is DOE contracting officer, Dustin Dalton, who can be reached at [email protected].
Paul Dabbar, the Department of Energy’s undersecretary for science, said during a visit to Savannah River in August that he hopes to see ground broken on the facility late this year.
The DOE wants the facility operating by December 2023. The RFI is not an actual request for proposals.
