The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management plans to award new contracts this year at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Moab uranium tailings site in Utah and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, the office said in its recent list of 2022 priorities.
The biggest prize is the potential $45-billion, 15-year Hanford Integrated Tank Waste Disposition Contract that would both replace the tank management contract now held by Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and make the winner responsible for operation of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant being built by Bechtel.
The existing WRPS contract, currently valued at nearly $8.6 billion, started in October 2008 and was scheduled to run through September 2023. The Bechtel contract, currently worth about $14.7 billion, started in December 2000 and was scheduled to run through December of this year.
The DOE issued the RFP for the big-money Hanford contract in October and proposal bids were due early this month.
Meanwhile, the nuclear cleanup office issued a request for proposals in June for a potential 10-year, $3-billion prime contract to run the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. The current business, held by Nuclear Waste Partnership, the Amentum-BWX Technologies partnership, is valued at $2.7-billion. The incumbent’s contract started in October 2012 and is slated to run through March of this year.
Also in June, DOE issued an RFP for a potential five-year $100-million contract for hauling defense-related transuranic waste to WIPP from DOE generator sites for disposal. Incumbent CAST Specialty Transportation has the current five-year, $112-million deal, which was scheduled to expire in May.
In February 2021, DOE released its final RFP for the Moab Remedial Action Contract in Utah, which could be worth $614-million over 15 years to the winning small business. The current business, known as the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project, is held by North Wind Portage under a contract worth $197-million that started in October 2016 and was scheduled to expire at the end of March, barring an extension.