The Department of Energy plans to extend its existing business agreement by one year with a contractor doing studies to support the federal agency’s remediation at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California, according to a procurement notice published Dec. 16.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management published a justification on SAM.gov for extending a longstanding task order with CDM by 12 months to Dec. 31, 2022, at the Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) at Santa Susana. The value of the extension is roughly $4 million and brings the total value of the task order, which dates back to October 2012 to $40 million.
CDM Smith, headquartered in Boston, works on federal and state reports to support cleanup of remaining contamination within the DOE-run Area IV of the 2,850-acre Santa Susana research site. CDM received its previous extension in 2020.
The DOE carried out decades of nuclear energy and related liquid-metal technology research at reactors at Santa Susana in Ventura County. Boeing and NASA are the other entities responsible for remediating Santa Susana under the oversight of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).
“CDM continues to perform tasks to support groundwater tasks working with DOE to obtain approval by DTSC as the DOE ramps up groundwater remediation now that building demolition is complete,” DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in an amendment to the task order document published this month.
CDM has already worked with the state to develop a groundwater corrective measure study. The state, meanwhile, is in the final stages of developing its California Environmental Quality Act review: a document required to begin final cleanup. All the structures at the ETEC property came down this year, although the soil and groundwater remediation remain.
“Due to the state regulator’s previous delays and DOE’s shifts in decisions, CDM remains unable to complete required support to finalize the NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] process,” according to the justification document signed by DOE’s contracting officer, John Blecher. “Therefore, it is necessary to extend the period of performance, in order for DOE to complete its NEPA process and DOE’s obligations under the 2007 Consent Order and the 2010 Administrative Order on Consent with the state of California.”
Physical cleanup at ETEC is carried out by North Wind Portage under a $4-million contract that runs through September 2023, according to the DOE’s latest major contractor chart.
