The final solicitation for a new remediation contract at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state, potentially worth $3 billion over a decade, was issued Thursday by the Department of Energy.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced the request for proposals (RFP) for what it calls Phase 1B cleanup in a press release.
The incumbent, Jacobs-led CH2M Hill – BWXT West Valley, has a contract currently valued at nearly $1 billion. The current Decommissioning – Facility Disposition contract started in August 2011 and is slated to run through February 2025.
Final proposals should be submitted to DOE’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center by Feb. 26, according to the cover letter. Questions on the final RFP should be emailed by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Jan. 22.
The agency can extend the contract for five more years, giving it a potential lifespan of 15 years, according to the RFP. There will be a 120-day transition period from the incumbent contractor.
DOE published its draft RFP in August 2023 and more than 30 businesses turned out the following month to learn more. Based on feedback to the draft, DOE said it will go back five years, rather than four, in considering past performance. The agency also said interviews with key people would be in-person rather than virtual.
The 200-acre West Valley site is 35 miles from Buffalo, owned by New York state and located within the Western New York Nuclear Service Center.
The property was home to a Nuclear Fuel Services reprocessing plant that ran six years, until 1972. The plant reprocessed much fuel from DOE’s Hanford Site in Washington state, according to DOE. The West Valley Demonstration Project Act of 1980, passed by congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter, made DOE responsible for cleaning up the site and shouldering 90% of the cost. The other 10% is the state’s responsibility.
Among other things, Phase 1B of cleanup will include the below-grade or underground sections of the Vitrification Facility, the rest of the Main Plant Process Building and other structures. The new contractor will also shoulder responsibility for some transuranic or Greater-than-Class-C waste that is currently orphaned without a final disposal path.
The above-ground portion of the West Valley Vitrification Plant, which solidified 600,000 gallons of liquid high-level waste, was torn down to slab in 2018, but the below-ground portion remains. Demotion of the Main Plant Process Building started in September 2022 and is still continuing.
