Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth has picked up its second and last option period as cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio.
The Energy Department announced the contract extension, valued at about $850 million, on Thursday afternoon, three days before the current 30-month extension was set to expire.
The company began work on its 10-year contract, now worth $3. 7 billion, for decommissioning and decontamination of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant on March 28, 2011. After a five-year base period, DOE split the remaining five years into two evenly divided option periods.
The announcement did not say when DOE might publish a draft request for proposals for a successor contract to kick in after March 28, 2021. A procurement update from DOE issued in July does not project a date for a draft RFP. The Energy Department said sticking with the incumbent is the most cost-effective way to continue progress on remediation at the former uranium enrichment plant.
The contract extension shows DOE’s confidence in the job the company is doing, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth Site Project Director Bob Smith said in an emailed statement. “The site is on the verge of major transformation and this announcement allows us to maintain momentum in our strides to deactivate two of the three massive process buildings in preparation for demolition and on-site disposal.”
The contract includes tearing down and disposing of process equipment, buildings, ancillary facilities, and other tasks.
The X-326 and the X-333 process buildings, 1950s structures used in uranium enrichment, are currently undergoing deactivation, with the X-330 building being the last one targeted, a company spokesman noted. The deactivation includes disconnecting utilities and removing radioactive and hazardous components.
The contractor is also developing a planned on-site radioactive waste disposal cell at Portsmouth, which could start taking waste from the buildings in fiscal 2021.
The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant was completed in 1956. In the 1960s its purpose shifted from enriching uranium for nuclear weapons to producing fuel for nuclear power plants. Significant remediation began in 1989 under agreements between DOE, the state of Ohio, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As of June, 37 facilities have been torn down at Portsmouth, according to DOE.
