Changes in the scope of work for two new Department of Energy contracts planned at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and Paducah Site in Kentucky, should not cause job cuts or employee transfers between the two former gaseous diffusion plants, the agency said Thursday in a procurement notice.
As DOE has said previously, some work handled under separate, existing cleanup contracts at Portsmouth and Paducah will be merged into the new Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office contract, which covers conversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) into a more stable uranium oxide form.
In January, the DOE Office of Environmental Management issued draft request for proposals (RFPs) for the $5.87-billion Portsmouth Decontamination and Decommissioning Contract to replace the cleanup business at Portsmouth held by Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, as well as the $1.89 billion, Portsmouth Paducah Project Office Operations and Site Mission Support Contract: a successor to the Mid-America Conversion Services contract for running the DUF6 conversion plants at both sites.
Under the new contracts, the responsibility for electrical, water, sewer and related utilities as well as emergency services, security and uranium transfer at Portsmouth will migrate to the new Office Operations and Site Mission Support contract, DOE said. The department foresees no workforce reductions as a result of the changes, according to the document.
Language will be added to RFP documents to clarify that employees at each site will remain where they are and not move between sites during transition. “In other words, Portsmouth personnel stay at Portsmouth and Paducah personnel stay at Paducah,” according to the document.
Release of the final RFPs could come as soon as this month, DOE has said.
