Potential bidders on the management and operations contract for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina have until noon ET on Jan. 9 to sign up for briefings.
The Energy Department is providing new details on its Jan. 16 industry day for the stand-alone lab contract.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management said Dec. 18 it is issuing a request for information (RFI) on a potential stand-alone contract for SRNL, which is currently included under the operations contract for the full Savannah River Site held by Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS).
While the notice gives the usual DOE disclaimer that there is no guarantee it will issue a request for proposals, one source expects a solicitation in mid-2020.
The industry day meetings are scheduled from 8 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. ET at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in North Augusta, S.C. The one-on-one meetings will be followed by a tour of the Savannah River National Laboratory from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. A meeting for interested community members will then be held at the hotel starting at 5 p.m.
The industry meetings will include briefings on the preliminary scope of work for the SRNL contract. Along with conducting research and managing the laboratory, the winning vendor would be expected to provide technical advice and guidance to the Energy Department in support of policy development and other activities.
Reservations can be made by emailing [email protected].
Questions can be directed to Energy Department Contracting Officer Travis Marshall, at [email protected].
Responses are due to the current RFI by 3 p.m. ET on Jan. 22.
The Savannah River National Laboratory has about 1,000 staff members and is designated as the only national laboratory for the DOE Office of Environmental Management.
In addition to helping DOE’s environmental cleanup, SRNL says its core competencies also include nuclear materials processing and disposition; and nuclear forensics for national defense, enabling the lab to assist the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration.
The laboratory hopes to develop a closer relationship with academia and expand its research portfolio without diluting its current work.
Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has picked a state lawyer to lead the Washington Department of Ecology.
Laura Watson succeeds Maia Bellon, who announced her retirement on Dec. 2 after leading the state agency since 2013.
The Department of Ecology, through its Nuclear Waste Program, regulates the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, as well as other nuclear facilities in the state.
Watson “has a deep understanding of the crucial work Ecology does statewide and was at the center of some of the most important issues in recent years,” Inslee said in a Dec. 20 press release.
For the past five years, Watson served as the senior assistant attorney general in the Ecology Division of the state Attorney General’s Office. She has advised the state on a long list of legal issues, including cleanup at Hanford, toxics reduction strategies, and protection of the State’s Clean Water Act authority against the federal government, according to the news release.
While Watson was senior assistant attorney general, her duties included acting as legal counsel for the Department of Ecology, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Altogether, Watson has been an attorney for the state of Washington for more than 20 years, having also served as a deputy solicitor general and an assistant attorney general.
Bellon is the longest-serving Ecology director in Washington state history. She steps down from the director position on Tuesday. Longtime Ecology Deputy Director Polly Zehm is also retiring at the end of January.
The leadership changes come as DOE and the Department of Ecology are starting talks concerning treatment and disposal of radioactive tank waste and other environmental cleanup issues at Hanford.
