The Department of Energy has issued Waste Control Specialists (WCS) a “request for task proposal” for long-term storage and management of elemental mercury.
In a Jan. 17 notice, DOE’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said the Dallas-based operator of a waste disposal complex in West Texas is the only vendor capable of providing the required, highly specialized services. Waste Control Specialists should submit a written proposal to the Energy Department by today, the notice says.
The Energy Department still has the option of pursuing a different vendor if it cannot reach an agreement with WCS. No formal selection will be made until after the Energy Department issues a record of decision is issued.
The Energy Department plans to issue a firm-fixed-price task order for a vendor to operate a facility for long-term storage of roughly 1,200 metric tons of mercury, most of it apparently coming from the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, Tenn. The Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008 requires DOE to set up a domestic storage site for the hazardous waste.
The enclosed mercury storage site would be considered a DOE facility for inspection, handling, and storing mercury from U.S. locations. The facility is required to have space for storage of mercury containers, obtain needed permits, and be prepared to respond to “any plausible mercury vapor or liquid release,” according to the Energy Department.
The Energy Department will not schedule any mercury shipments until the facility has met all the legal and regulatory requirements, including a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit.
The online procurement document says if no facility is operating by Jan. 1, 2020, then the Energy Department must take title to all elemental mercury accumulated at generator sites from the processing of ore. The agency would also pay for storage costs at the generator sites if the national facility is not ready by that year.
Congress initially hoped to have the national facility operating by 2013, but the deadline was pushed back to 2019. An Energy Department interim guidance document from 2013 stipulated no part of the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, which has a significant mercury contamination problem, would be considered for long-term storage.
The article was updated Jan. 24 to note no final decision will be made until after a ROD is issued.
