The National Nuclear Security Administration, in cooperation with U.S. partner nations, plans to establish an integrated global system to detect smuggled nuclear material before it can be used in acts of terrorism.
The NNSA’s Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD) announced deployment of a Counter Nuclear Smuggling System on the federal government’s contracting website on Tuesday.
“The objective of this procurement is to deploy integrated sustainable counter nuclear smuggling systems in cooperation with international partners around the world in order to strengthen the overall capability of partner countries to detect, disrupt, and investigate smuggling of nuclear and radiological materials that could be used in acts of terrorism,” the solicitation reads.
Elements of the system will be deployed at “points of entry of all types,” border control checkpoints, and other areas “throughout partner countries,” the ad says. The indefinite quantity, indefinite-delivery contract has a $1 billion ceiling and covers seven years of counter-smuggling system development and deployment – a three-year base period and a pair of two-year options.
The work will include design, integration, construction, communications, logistics, and training work for radiation detection systems, security systems, passive barriers, nonstructural modifications of existing buildings, new supporting infrastructure, communications equipment and systems, vehicles, and other items and systems that “enable and are complementary to, the radiation detection mission,” according to the solicitation.
A specific addendum to the draft solicitation declares that bidders are barred from speaking with the atomic energy authority, national police, or other government agencies in Niger.
Work under the NSDD program is part of a larger anti-smuggling effort that taps specialized contractors and national laboratories. It is one of three such programs within the Office of Global Material Security and aids in NNSA’s nonproliferation mission.
Formerly known as the “Second Line of Defense,” NSDD began cooperating with Russia on nonproliferation efforts in 1998 and has since expanded to cooperation with more than 80 countries, NNSA said.
“Rapid deployment and effective operation of these counter nuclear smuggling systems in partnership with foreign countries is a key priority of NNSA,” the draft solicitation says.
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm recently told Congress that DOE and the semi-autonomous NNSA is doing just this sort of work helping Ukraine detect radiological events during its war with Russia.
“With the NNSA, we have made sure that we have installed sensors in Ukraine to detect radiological activity,” Granholm told the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 26. “We have been training people in Ukraine in how to respond to a radiological action.”
