The Department of Energy has picked up a six-month option keeping North Wind Portage on the job as the technical assistance contractor at the Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico until June 2021.
The basic contract and associated task orders were extended six months from Dec. 4, last Friday, to June 3, 2021, a spokesperson for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a Monday email.
The value of the six-month increase is estimated to be worth up to $6 million, the spokesperson said. That would push the total value of the small-business set-aside contract, which began in December 2015, to about $51 million.
Bids are due Dec. 14 on a new Carlsbad Technical Assistance Contract that could be worth up to $100 million. The work focuses on providing audits and technical assistance to the Carlsbad office and the DOE program for certifying and shipping defense-related transuranic waste from agency-approved sites to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: DOE’s only deep-underground, permanent repository for such waste.
The department says it will be up to the winner of the new contract to train its own employees and the cost will be borne by the new contractor.
That is one of the takeaways from a package of questions and answers published Wednesday by DOE on the potential $100-million small business set-aside contract to assist the Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico with audits and other technical services for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
The DOE said it does not consider training a “direct cost” that would merit reimbursement.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management also said it will be up to the new provider to determine how many staff positions it needs. The incumbent has roughly 65 to 70 full-time staffers. There is scope in this request for proposals that is new as compared to the existing contract. “Therefore, it is anticipated that the number of staff will increase to accommodate the new scope,” DOE said in its reply.
Two new teams are gearing up to take over major contracts at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, a top federal official there said Wednesday.
Hanford’s site manager, Brian Vance updated the contract transitions during an online meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board.
Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup Co., and Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, should be completed in late January, Vance said. The DOE has previously said both will conclude Jan. 24.
Fluor and Adkins are the other members of Central Plateau Cleanup, which is replacing Jacobs subsidiary CH2M Central Plateau Remediation. Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) is composed of Leidos Integrated Technology, Centerra Group, and Parsons Government Services. It replaces Mission Support Alliance, which is made up of Leidos and Centerra.
Also Vance said, in early January the transition will begin for the 222-S Laboratory contractor, Navarro-led Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration, Vance said. The DOE has yet to identify a specific date, a Hanford spokesperson said via email.
The Oregon Department of Energy is studying updated rules governing transport and disposal of radioactive materials within the state, which could potentially sock violators with millions of dollars in fines.
The state department’s Energy Facility Siting Council has been working on tightening Oregon’s radioactive waste rules since May, according to a slide presentation put together for an online workshop held Monday.
The goal is to protect public health and safety by preventative measures, ensuring radioactive material is not improperly shipped or disposed of within the state and requiring penalties or mitigation when violations occur.
The package would define major violations as those that cause, or have the potential to cause, significant harm to public health, safety or the environment. Depending on the severity and duration of the infraction, financial penalties could reach $10,000 per day with a maximum of $2.7 million.
A link to the 18-page rule proposal dated Nov. 30 can be found here.
In addition to the set of administrative rules to be discussed during the online meeting, potential legislative measures could be drafted during the upcoming Oregon legislative session.
During 2019 about 250 shipments of radioactive waste passed through Oregon, much of it as a result of commercial low-level waste facilities near the federal Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in neighboring Washington state, just 35 miles from the Oregon state line. That is according to a state report on radioactive waste transport.
Hanford is expected to resume shipments of transuranic material to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico within a decade and use routes passing through Oregon. Haulers already need a state permit to move radioactive material through Oregon.
