The Department of Energy is inviting potential bidders on a yet-to-be-solicited management and operations contract for the Savannah River Site to Augusta, Ga., on August 1 for what the agency calls a “technical workshop.”
At the all-day workshop, DOE “will be presenting information on technical challenges associated with Management and Operation of the Savannah River Site,” according to a notice posted on a federal procurement website July 5. The agency had originally scheduled the workshop for July 12, but pushed the meeting back a month during the July 4 holiday week.
Among other things, DOE said the briefing will include talks on: the H-Canyon chemical processing facility that recovers nuclear materials from spent nuclear fuel; K-Area, a storage area for special nuclear materials; and the L-Basin used for the storage of spent nuclear fuel.
Those interested can register by email by July 17. Companies may send up to three representatives.
Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions is the incumbent under a contract worth about $9.5 billion, with options. The last option period ends July 31.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management oversees the Savannah River Site management and operations contract. The incumbent’s deal, which is separate from the site’s liquid-waste cleanup contract, involves running the site’s remediation-focused national laboratory and operating nuclear-material facilities for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) active nuclear-weapon programs.
The Environmental Management office has yet to release even a draft solicitation for the next Savannah River Site management and operations contract, but has signaled it will extend the incumbent’s contract for another year, to July 31, 2019. The agency released a request for information on the next management pact in 2016.
The NNSA did about $300 billion worth of work at Savannah River in 2018. The total includes processing tritium — a power-booster for thermonuclear weapons — but does not cover construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, which is handled under a separate NNSA contract.
