The Energy Department intends to issue a sole-source contract to Waste Control Specialists (WCS) for continued administrative support for certain radioactive material already stored at its Andrews County, Texas, facility.
In a pair of notices published Monday and Tuesday on a federal procurement website, the Energy Department said it wants to prevent a lapse in WCS’s administrative support due to a recently expired agreement. The Monday notice indicates the federal agency wants to preserve the status quo while it explores options to move stranded waste drums from the Texas site to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.
The Energy Department specifically wants to keep WCS in charge of regulatory meetings and other ancillary activities regarding the waste. The proposed sole-source contract does not cover waste storage, which falls under a different agency task order, or ultimate plans for treatment or disposal. The procurement notices don’t include any details on the cost or duration of the potential contract.
The Energy Department is looking to move potentially combustible drums of transuranic waste shipped to the Texas site from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico during March 2014. The month before, a drum of TRU waste from Los Alamos overheated and caused an underground radiation leak that would force WIPP out of service for about three years.
After the waste came to WCS, it was determined that some of the drums might pose a combustion risk similar to the drum that overheated at WIPP. Most of the original Los Alamos waste has already been shipped to WIPP, but about 75 standard waste boxes remain stored underground at WCS.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality wants the Energy Department to remove it all by the end of the year. In March, DOE Senior Adviser for Environmental Management William (Ike) White said getting the material out of Texas is a priority, but it might take until April 2022.
