The U.S. Energy Department on Tuesday issued a sources sought/request for information for remediation of the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and the Kesselring Site, both in New York state.
The agency wants to gauge small business interest in a potential contract that includes tearing down and removing contaminated facilities, along with waste management services, at the two naval nuclear propulsion sites.
The Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center in Cincinnati is in early planning stages for the procurement at the two facilities located about 20 miles apart in upstate New York. The cleanup must cause minimal impact to the ongoing research and naval training at the facilities.
The RFI was posted on the FedBizOpps website.
Established in 1946 near Schenectady, N.Y., the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory was originally tasked with providing the government technical support in the chemical separation of plutonium and uranium from irradiated fuel. Today it conducts research, design, and other services for U.S. nuclear-powered submarines.
Knolls’ sister location, the Kenneth A. Kesselring Site in West Milton, N.Y., began operating in 1955 as a potential location for testing of liquid-metal cooled power breeder reactors, although none were ever built there. Today its mission is primarily to train nuclear officers and enlisted personnel to operate the Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines.
The anticipated contract would include tasks such as decommissioning about 60 wells to state requirements, along with remediation of soil contaminated with volatile organic compounds. The soil is situated between the sites of the former H2 and G2 buildings, now torn down, at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) within the Knolls property.
Responses are due by 4 p.m. Eastern on Aug. 30, to contract specialist Nicholas Jay Voiles, at [email protected].
Separately, the Energy Department said Tuesday that environmental remediation and site restoration at SPRU is now complete. The environmental work overseen by DOE began in 2007 with a $67 million cost-plus contract to URS Energy & Construction, now part of Los Angeles-based AECOM. The initial target for completion was November 2011.
The cleanup project suffered schedule delays and bad luck, including a 2011 hurricane that contributed to mudslides and delayed key decontamination and disposal operations for 16 months. As of January 2018, AECOM has billed DOE for more than $427 million. The company and AECOM disagree over which side is most to blame for schedule delays and cost overruns, and the parties engaged in alternate dispute resolution, according to a March 2018 DOE Office of Inspector General report.
The Separations Process Research Unit was used in the 1940s and 1950s by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission for research on chemical separation of plutonium and uranium.
