The National Nuclear Security Administration, which requires a regular supply of depleted uranium tetrafluoride for future nuclear-weapon refurbishments, may let a small business coordinate production and delivery of that material to the agency, according to a request for information released last week.
The nuclear-weapons agency plans to acquire the uranium tetrafluoride by converting stocks of depleted uranium hexafluoride at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and Paducah Site in Kentucky.
The agency requires between 150 and 400 metric tons of depleted uranium tetrafluoride (DUF4) annually but also wants to be able to crank out as many as 800 tons annually in a surge, according to the request for information. The material would be delivered “to a vendor in the Tennessee area” and the contract, the agency wrote in the RFI.
Responses are due by Feb. 25.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) had planned to set up its own DUF4 production line as part of the Portsmouth Paducah Project Office Operations and Site Mission Support Contract that DOE’s Office of Environmental Management planned to compete this year.
The DUF4 production line was to be built at the Portsmouth Site’s X-1300 building, according to a draft performance work statement.
