Nearly a month past its own declared schedule, the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management still has not issued a draft request for proposals (RFP) for further cleanup of the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee.
On July 2, DOE said in a notice on the federal procurement website FedBizOpps that it anticipated issuing the draft document in anywhere from 15 to 60 days. While that would have been around Aug. 30 on the outside, no such solicitation document had been posted as of Thursday.
Contractor URS/CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) expects by next July to complete decontamination and decommissioning of the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP). Formerly the site of the mile-long K-25 gaseous diffusion plant and associated uranium enrichment facilities, the property will eventually be used as an industrial park. UCOR’s current nine-year, $3.2 billion contract is due to expire in July.
The next Oak Ridge remediation contract could run for up to 10 years and be worth $6 billion, according to the Energy Department. In May, DOE indicated it could release the final RFP in November and the actual contract in May 2020. With cleanup winding down at ETTP, the winner of the next Oak Ridge contract would focus on the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
In addition to decommissioning and tearing down structures at those two facilities, that contractor would manage various waste treatment and disposal activities, including operation of landfills. The contractor is also expected to do risk reduction and maintenance at various facilities, including the Transuranic (TRU) Waste Processing Center and related waste storage facilities at ORNL.
The Energy Department estimates there is around 30 years of environmental work remaining at Oak Ridge. Companies expected to bid on the new Oak Ridge business include AECOM, Jacobs, BWX Technologies, and Veolia, among others. Fluor has been mentioned, but this week announced plans to sell off its government services business by next year.
In preparation for the upcoming solicitation, the Energy Department in May added more than 60 documents to the Oak Ridge procurement website. The documents include a 36-page program plan for the site from 2014 through 2024.
As a result of legacy contamination from past operations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency placed Oak Ridge on the National Priorities List, or Superfund list, in 1989, according to the plan.
Eliminating any off-site releases of radiation or hazardous chemicals is the top priority at Oak Ridge. It is followed by controlling sources of onsite contamination, demolishing old structures, and addressing soil, groundwater, and surface water.
The job is complicated by the heavy level of rainfall in East Tennessee, about 53 inches annually, according to the program document.
