The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management on Thursday issued its request for proposals for the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at Oak Ridge, Tenn., and scheduled a pre-proposal site tour for April 10.
The announcement had been expected after DOE issued the draft RFP in November and said last month it was preparing to release the final procurement notice for a contract to build, test, and operate the mercury treatment plant for the Y-12 National Security Complex.
The Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said Thursday bidders have 46 days to submit proposals for what is expected to be a firm-fixed-price contract. Any questions pertaining to the RFP should be submitted in writing to [email protected] no later than April 12.
Companies that registered for a January industry day on the contract included AREVA Federal Services, Atkins, Bechtel, Jacobs, Northwind Group, and Veolia.
The April event will display some of the site preparation work that has already been done for the plant, according to the RFP package.
During the 1950s and 1960s, over 24 million pounds of mercury were used at Y-12 during nuclear weapons research. The Energy Department has estimated roughly 2 million pounds of mercury have been spilled or lost. About 700,000 pounds of this amount was lost into the environment, which includes contamination of buildings, soils, and water, the agency has said.
The plant, designed by Oak Ridge cleanup prime URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), is expected to go online in 2022.
In addition treating water contaminated with mercury that migrates from the Y-12 storm sewer to East Fork Poplar Creek, this project is expected to assist with additional contaminated water in the future resulting from teardown of additional mercury-laden buildings at the site.
The project footprint will include the headworks site, a pipeline corridor, and the actual treatment plant site.
The final RFP clarifies operational responsibility for the site environmental project has been shifted from DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM).
