The Energy Department on Thursday inched closer toward a procurement for a facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex for treatment of mercury-contaminated water.
The agency dropped its request for information late Thursday, asking companies to submit capabilities statements for building the facility described in a 30-page statement of work the agency released along with its request. The terms of the contract, including financial terms and period of performance, are to be decided, DOE wrote in the request for information.
Residual mercury from Manhattan Project and Cold War uranium refining leaked into storm drains from Y-12 and into into the Upper East Fork Poplar Creek, which flows directly into the nearby city of Oak Ridge, Tenn., DOE wrote in its statement of work.
According to the statement of work, “an unknown volume of mercury remains in the soils beneath and adjacent to the buildings, storm sewers, and process pipelines, which continues to be released to the storm sewer system.”
The department has staged several mercury treatment projects at the site already, but none will be as expansive as the planned water treatment facility, which will be designed by URS|CH2M Hill Oak Ridge as part its nine-year Oak Ridge Reservation cleanup contract, which expires in 2020 and has a maximum value of $2.4 billion.
The facility itself will consist of two parts: the main mercury treatment facility and an upriver headworks to divert water from the creek for treatment.
The Department of Energy did not say when a draft request for bids might be released, when prospective bidders might be invited to the site for a tour and one-on-ones with agency officials, and what portion of the work might be set aside for small businesses.
