While the clock ticks down on 2019, the U.S. Energy Department Office of Environmental Management has yet to issue a draft request for proposals for a new remediation contract for the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee.
The agency said in a July procurement notice it planned to issue the draft RFP within 60 days, which translated to roughly Labor Day. Nearly three months after that target date passed, the document has yet to be released as of Friday morning.
In its online procurement spreadsheet, last updated in May, the Energy Department envisioned the draft RFP going out by July, followed by the final version in November.
While the nuclear cleanup office is months behind on nearly all of the contract awards outlined in its latest public schedule, from May, it did issue two major deals this month at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
A new award at Oak Ridge would succeed the contract held by URS/CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), which expects to conclude decontamination and decommissioning of the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) by next summer. Remediation of the former home of the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant and associated uranium enrichment facilities is nearly complete. The site will eventually become an industrial park.
The incumbent’s nine-year, $3.2 billion contract at Oak Ridge ends in July 2020. Along with ETTP remediation, its primary responsibilities include tearing down buildings and cleaning up contamination at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex. The latter two locations will get most of the attention in the new 10-year contract, which could be worth up to $6 billion.
The nuclear cleanup office can always issue a temporary extension to the incumbent UCOR.
Industry speculation is that firms such as AECOM, Jacobs, BWX Technologies, and Veolia could be among those vying for the next Oak Ridge cleanup contract.
ROD for Oak Ridge Landfill Pushed Back 6 Months
Meanwhile, publication of a draft record of decision (ROD) for a new landfill at the Oak Ridge is being delayed until June 2020.
By mutual agreement between DOE Environmental Management officials at Oak Ridge, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, publication of the document has been pushed back until June 17, a DOE spokesperson said this week by email.
This document has already been delayed several times. The most recent target date for publication was Thursday.
The Environmental Management Disposal Facility would replace the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility at Oak Ridge, which is projected to reach its disposal capacity in the next few years.
Like the current facility, the new landfill would be located in the Bear Creek Valley on the Oak Ridge Site and would have a capacity of 2.2-million-cubic yards.
The Senate Appropriations Committee said in September it was disappointed in the pace of the ROD and wants cost data for the project. The record of decision will lay out details on how the Energy Department plans to develop the new landfill safely and address public health and safety concerns voiced by the city of Oak Ridge and other stakeholders.
Before the draft ROD is issued, the parties hope to overcome differences on key issues including regulating landfill wastewater effluents containing radionuclides.
Jay Mullis, the manager of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management at Oak Ridge, says EPA regional officials are seeking tougher standards on controlling runoff from nuclear sites than is the norm at other domestic nuclear facilities.
The new landfill will take low-level radioactive and mixed waste generated on-site, mostly from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex.
In September 2018, DOE decided that another on-site landfill at Oak Ridge was its preferred alternative for dealing with construction waste from buildings being demolished. The final ROD would lay out the plan for the landfill.
