Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SNRS) will continue managing the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina for the next 14 months, and possibly another two years after that, according to an announcement Thursday.
The $1.5 billion contract extension will keep SRNS on the job at least from Aug. 1 through Sept. 30, 2020. It comes less than two weeks before the contractor’s current award expires. That $1 billion deal started on Aug. 1, 2018, and is set to end on July 31.
Following the base period, the Energy Department can offer SRNS up to two 12-month options on the extension. Those are not covered under the $1.5 billion for the upcoming extension.
That could keep the management and operations prime on board until Sept. 30, 2022. “This extension enables SRS to maintain M&O services while DOE develops an acquisition strategy and subsequent contract competition for those services,” DOE’s Savannah River Operations Office stated in the press release.
There is no timeline for new contract solicitations and strategy developments since SRNS will be on the job for the foreseeable future, an agency spokesperson said.
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions in 2008 inked its initial 10-year, $9.5 billion deal with the Energy Department. Site management encompasses missions for both DOE’s Office of Environmental Management and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, including general cleanup, building deactivation and decommissioning, and technology development to assist treatment of over 30 million gallons of radioactive waste stored at Savannah River.
Other missions under the contractor’s purview include processing and storage of nuclear materials, such as highly enriched uranium (HEU), tritium production for the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and management of the Savannah River National Laboratory.
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions is a partnership of Fluor, Honeywell, and Stoller Newport News Nuclear. The company manages some 5,300 employees at the 310-square-mile site near Aiken, S.C. The contract ending on July 31 was the first extension SRNS received, following the initial 10-year deal.
