The National Nuclear Security Administration posted a source sought notice on sam.gov Tuesday for a contractor to purify and reprocess lithium hydride that the agency produces.
Lithium is a component of producing tritium, which is used in the thermonuclear weapons maintained by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
According to the notice, NNSA targets recycling 1,500 to 5,000 kilograms a year of lithium hydride. The contractor would work on the mission of cleaning, purification, metal production and hydriding to effectively recycle lithium for reuse, and then recover lithium caught in waste streams to purify for weapons grade material.
Responses are due by Jan. 10, 2025.
Meanwhile, construction of the long-planned Lithium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. was set to begin in mid-2025, as of October 2023.
In the National Nuclear Security Administration’s budget request for fiscal year 2025, the agency requested $260 million for the facility to prepare the site, develop the critical decision 2/3 package, and work to finish the facility by 2028.
