The Energy Department could issue its final request for proposals in late February for construction of the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., according to recently released presolicitation documents.
The agency expects prospective bidders will have 30 calendar days from the date of the final RFP to submit contract proposals.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management on Nov. 30 released a draft RFP for the planned fixed-price contract for construction of the treatment facility. Prospective bidders then received a site tour and presolicitation meetings on Jan. 3 -4.
Records indicate more than 70 people registered for the industry sessions at Oak Ridge, Tenn. Some of the familiar company names on the registration list included AREVA Federal Services, Atkins, Bechtel, GEM Technologies, Jacobs, NorthWind Group, Stoller Newport News Nuclear, Veolia Nuclear Solutions, Wastren Advantage, and Westinghouse Government Services.
Comments on the draft RFP, which will help DOE draft its final bid package, were due Jan. 9. In response to an industry question submitted to DOE’s procurement website, the department declined to provide the government’s cost estimate for construction, but “the funding profile will be included in the final RFP.”
Mercury remains a major contamination issue at Y-12, which remains an active nuclear-weapon site for DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration. The General Services Administration has estimated 24 million tons of mercury was brought to Y-12 during the 1950s and 1960s for nuclear weapons research. More than 2 million tons were “spilled, lost, or unaccounted for,” according to DOE information. This includes 700,000 pounds of mercury are believed to have infiltrated structures, soils, sediments, and the air at Y-12.
The mercury treatment plant would treat mercury-contaminated water that already goes from the Y-12 storm sewer to East Fork Poplar Creek, and head off future water contamination as old mercury-contaminated buildings to the 1940s are taken down.
