The Department of Energy in June plans to solicit bids on a decade-long contract for acquiring domestic low-enriched uranium, the agency said recently in a procurement note.
There would be multiple awards for the 10-year, $3.4 billion, indefinitely-quantity, indefinite-delivery deal, the agency wrote last week in a synopsis of its proposed solicitation. The agency did not say how much uranium it planned to acquire under the contract.
The low-enriched uranium (LEU) contract is separate from a $2.7 billion High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) acquisition that began in January.
“DOE intends to acquire LEU from new domestic enrichment capacity to support the commercial availability of LEU for U.S. commercial nuclear energy companies,” the agency wrote in the low-enriched uranium synopsis.
As with the HALEU deal, the low-enriched uranium contract would steer much of the work to U.S. companies but leave the door open for “allied and partner nations” to participate.
For the LEU deal, DOE’s first preferences are for existing U.S. mining facilities and new U.S. conversion facilities. For enrichment, however, new U.S. capacity is mandatory, according to the synopsis. For storage, DOE has no preference between new or existing domestic capacity.
