The Energy Department last week issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a small business set-aside contract, potentially worth almost $25 million over five years, to tackle low-risk, low-complexity characterization and remediation for the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management in Tennessee.
The Y-12 National Security Complex, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) have a large number of old structures, containers, concrete slabs, and containers in need of more investigation before disposal options are decided upon, according to the solicitation. After the characterization is done, the contractor might be asked to perform the actual deactivation and teardown, DOE said in a notice.
In particular, the department wants the contractor to carry out characterization for Building 9213, the Critical Experiment Facility, a 23,000-square feet structure south of Y-12. From 1965 to 1987 it was used by ORNL to test fresh fuel for the High Flux Isotope Reactor. The facility is cold and dark with all utilities deactivated. Process equipment and legacy material must be removed prior to demolition. Small amounts of radioactive material, such as enriched uranium solutions, are present in tanks and process equipment.
The Energy Department hopes characterization can begin in February or March 2019 to prepare for demolition of Building 9213. The building is part of a larger demolition project driven by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).
A preproposal meeting between potential bidders and DOE officials is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday at Oak Ridge. Only two representatives from each participating company may attend due to space limitations. Those interested in attending should respond today to Contract Specialist Carol Jennings, [email protected], and Contracting Officer Jessica Speed, [email protected].
Responses to the solicitation are due by Sept. 20.
Los Angeles-based engineering giant AECOM on Monday announced that it has promoted former Department of Energy official Mark Whitney to lead its nuclear and environment business unit, filling the slot vacated by Todd Wright.
Wright recently retired as executive vice president and general manager of the AECOM branch, but is staying on at the company in a senior role focused on major business development and corporate governance in the nuclear sector.
Whitney became the new general manager and executive vice president for the business effective Monday. He will run daily operations and support AECOM efforts for the Energy Department, the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and other clients.
Prior to joining AECOM almost two years ago, Whitney spent over a decade at the Energy Department, where he served in leadership posts including principal deputy assistant secretary and acting assistant secretary for the Office of Environmental Management and manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management in Tennessee. During his government tenure, Whitney also worked at DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, including as acting principal assistant deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation.
“Mark Whitney’s experience as our nuclear and environment chief operating office and his previous role with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will allow us to continue the strong momentum we have developed in the government and commercial nuclear market,” John Vollmer, president of AECOM’s Management Services group, said in a press release. Management Services is the unit that includes AECOM’s Department of Energy business.
The international infrastructure firm is currently leading DOE contractor teams on liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and operation of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.
While two reports made public this month in New Mexico have illustrated poor accounting practices at the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities, Los Alamos County Manager Harry Burgess rejects the suggestion county employees, acting as the group’s fiscal agency, have engaged in wrongdoing.
The New Mexico attorney general is investigating any potential fraud in reimbursements paid to the then-executive director at the organization established to promote localities around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. That followed reports earlier in the month on the matter from the state auditor’s office and the Adams+Crow Law Firm, which was commissioned by Los Alamos County.
While RCLC is a state-created entity, the reports found it was approving reimbursement of alcohol, pricey meals, and entertainment-related expenses other state employees can’t claim. The reports also cited sloppy bookkeeping by RCLC and the county.
“I personally disagree with implications by representatives of Adams and Crow that County employees or elected officials intentionally misled or attempted to conceal any wrong-doing,” Burgess said in a statement. While the county might have failed to establish proper policies and oversight of the RCLC, county staff is “held to the highest level of integrity,” he added.
Much of the original research into RCLC reimbursements was conducted in an internal audit by Los Alamos County, which provided the foundation for the reports by the state auditor and the law firm, Burgess said.
The RCLC in February did not to renew the executive director contract for Andrea Romero Consulting after questions about $2,600 in expenses for travel, meals, alcoholic beverages, and tickets to a baseball game in Washington, D.C. Romero, who has since won a Democrat primary for a state representative seat, has repaid all the disputed reimbursements.
The contract with new RCLC director Eric Vasquez, of the firm CPLC New Mexico, excludes many problem areas of the past contract, Burgess said. For instance, Vasquez has said his firm won’t take reimbursement for travel expenses.
Leaders in the village of Piketon, Ohio, have asked federal and state agencies to hold a public hearing on the waste that will go into the planned On-Site Disposal Cell at the Energy Department’s nearby Portsmouth Site.
The Piketon Village Council on Aug. 20 approved a resolution asking DOE and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for a public hearing on the “waste acceptance criteria” to be used for the facility. The resolution notes Piketon and other local governments near the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant cleanup have passed resolutions opposing the cell.
The Energy Department envisions the $900 million cell as storing 2 million cubic yards of waste resulting from demolition of buildings once used for uranium enrichment at Portsmouth.
The Energy Department issued, with concurrence from the Ohio EPA, the final record of decision (ROD) for the cell in June 2015. The document found the cell posed no significant environmental risk and was a good way of managing waste with low levels of contamination requiring little or no treatment prior to disposal.
Critics, including Piketon Mayor Billy Spencer, have been unable to convince regulators to reopen the ROD, despite arguing the bedrock under the cell has fractures that make it unsuitable for the disposal project.
The Energy Department has concluded the disposal cell would be a safe means to dispose of the waste and would mean quicker remediation of most of the Portsmouth Site.
The Ohio EPA has yet to approve the final design for the facility. The Energy Department has targeted initial waste emplacement at the site in fiscal 2021.
“We are aware of the Mayor’s request. The waste acceptance criteria proposal is still under review by Ohio EPA,” said state agency spokesman James Lee said via email.
An Energy Department spokesperson said by email that a public information session is already scheduled in mid-November to discuss the Waste Acceptance Criteria Implementation Plan and other key documents in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) process.
