The U.S. Energy Department on Monday issued a request for information kicking off market research for the next cleanup contract at the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) project in Utah.
The current contract, held by North Wind Portage, expires after September 2021. The work involves moving tailings from the old Atlas Mineral Corp. uranium ore processing site by rail to the Crescent Junction waste disposal facility 30 miles away.
In April 2016, Portage landed a five-year, $154 million follow-on task order to its initial five-year contract. The company was acquired by rival North Wind in January 2017.
North Wind Portage did not immediately return an email on whether it plans to retain the business.
The new award is intended to complete removal of tailings and residual radioactive material at the site 3 miles northwest of Moab in Grand County. The 435-acre property includes 130 acres covered by a uranium mill tailings pile at the confluence of the Colorado River and the Moab Wash.
Uranium Reduction Co. built the Moab facility in 1956 and sold the property to Atlas in 1962. Atlas processed uranium ore for defense programs, and later for commercial use. under a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license until 1984, then declared bankruptcy in 1998.
Due to the bankruptcy, Atlas gave up its license and forfeited its reclamation bond. The 2001 National Defense Authorization Act made the Energy Department responsible for remediating the site and addressing the estimated 16 million tons, or 12 million cubic yards, of uranium tailings.
As of last month, the current contractor had shipped more than 10 million tons of waste to Crescent Junction. A project completion date of 2029 is based on the contractor moving four trains of tailings per week, although that would slip to 2034 if only two shipments are moving weekly.
The statement of work for Moab includes excavating the tailings and residual waste from Moab and loading it into railcars; shipping it to Crescent Junction; cleaning up the Moab site; operating Crescent Junction – including placing interim and final fill material over the waste. It also calls for planning the eventual restoration of the Crescent Junction site.
The DOE document also stipulates the winning vendor would remediate certain “vicinity properties” that were contaminated by the Moab mill. Specifically mentioned is the “Bert’s Auto” site about 8 miles from the tailings pile. The document does specify the nature or extent of the contamination at Bert’s.
The Energy Department wants to determine if all or part of the Moab work can be set aside for small business. Interested parties should submit a capability statement of between 12 and 15 pages, describing relevant federal environmental work done over the past five years.
The capability statements, and any questions about the request for information, should be emailed by 12 p.m. Eastern time on Nov. 19, to [email protected].
