KURION CALLS ON DOE TO EASE USE OF NEW TECH. TO AID HANFORD CLEANUP

Kurion Chairman and CEO Ralph DiSibio is calling on the Department of Energy to develop new contracting approaches to make it easier to use new technologies to help clean up Hanford. In a column published by The Hill on its website yesterday, DiSibio wrote that new Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz should form an independent panel of state, federal and industry representatives to develop “a new contracting model” that would be managed by an independent panel. “While the Energy Department would retain control of Hanford’s operations, the panel would be charged with clearing the barriers to new technologies,” DiSibio wrote. “Just as the world’s top scientists joined the Manhattan Project to bring an end to World War II, Dr. Moniz must offer a fresh approach that gathers the nation’s best scientists and resources to meet this challenge.”

Kurion has been pitching the use of its modular vitrification system to aid DOE in its efforts to address Hanford’s tank waste. In his piece yesterday, DiSibio criticized what he described as the “intricate process” currently in place for companies seeking to offer DOE new approaches. “A company must navigate the universal contracting model in place throughout the DOE. That model must meet the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Department of Energy Acquisition Regulation, or DEAR, as well as myriad overlapping statutes, rules and regulations. Plus, any cleanup plans must conform to court rulings that call for specific technical solutions and discrete milestones,” DiSibio wrote, adding, “Secretary Moniz must simplify this process. He must deliver a host of options to solve Hanford’s challenges. Over the last 23 years, this now-outdated approach has proven too complex to attract innovation and private investment.” The full version of DiSibio’s column can be found here.