The Department of Energy plans to retain a Atkins-led joint venture that runs depleted uranium conversion at former gaseous diffusion plants in Ohio and Kentucky for 14 more months, until March 31, 2023, in part to help a defense project stay on track.
The DOE announced its intention to extend the contract for Mid-America Conversion Services in a notice on a federal procurement website March 26. The team, which also includes Westinghouse and Fluor, holds the current five-year, $459-million Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) Conversion Facilities at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky.
The facilities run by Mid-America already convert the DUF6 into uranium oxide for transportation and disposal.
The extra 14 months would provide time for the contractor to design, install and start up a new line at Portsmouth to handle depleted uranium tetrafluoride (DUF4) for the DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, according to the notice. The resulting depleted uranium metal can be used in nuclear weapons. The DUF4 conversion line should be completed by March 2023, according to the notice.
While DOE is not seeking competing proposals, it will accept “clear and convincing documentation” of ability to do the contract work by alternate providers. Such submissions should be sent by 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on April 12 to contracting officer Daniel Burke via email at [email protected].
The DOE typically won’t reveal the value of an extension until it is actually issued, but the current one is worth about $92-million per year.
Staffing restrictions imposed a year ago in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 caused Mid-America to suspend conversion of DUF6, and DOE officials have not said when normal operations are expected to resume. Last October, the contractor did send six uranium oxide cylinders to a commercial disposal site, Waste Control Specialists in West Texas, as part of a pilot program.
A year ago, DOE kicked off its market research on a new DUF6 contract by issuing a sources-sought document for Portsmouth and Paducah, but has yet to follow that up with any draft request for proposals.
