The Department of Energy is expected this week to finalize a list of contractors interested in a second round of bidding for its deep borehole nuclear waste storage field test.
Friday marked the deadline for potential bidders to submit notices of intent to propose for the estimated $35 million, five-year project. The field test will help the department determine the feasibility of storing DOE-managed waste in 3-mile-deep boreholes drilled into crystalline rock formations. It’s one method the Obama administration is exploring for long-term management of America’s commercial and high-level nuclear waste as an alternative for the canceled plan for a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
DOE originally awarded the contract to Battelle Memorial Institute, which failed over the course of several months this year to secure two separate drilling sites in North Dakota and South Dakota. Local residents in both states voiced concerns that a successful field test would lead to eventual nuclear waste storage in their areas, even though the department and contractor stressed from the onset that the test would not involve real waste.
The next milestone in the bidding process will be a Sept. 13 pre-proposal meeting at the Rio hotel in Las Vegas. A past-performance questionnaire and site characteristic submissions will follow on Oct. 3. Proposals are ultimately due Oct. 21, and the department hopes to start siting processes in January.
