USACE Issues SLDA Security Presolicitation Notice

Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
5/23/2014

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District has begun planning a new procurement to award a new security contract for the Shallow Land Disposal Area, a Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program site in Armstrong County, Pa. According to a pre-solicitation notice issued late last week, the new contract will be a firm fixed-price type and set-aside for small businesses. The contract is set to run for up to five years, consisting of a one-year base period and four one-year option periods. A Request for Proposal for the new contract is set to be issued approximately June 9, the notice said.

The SLDA site has come under intense scrutiny recently with the release of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission Investigator General’s report which concluded FUSRAP’s remediation plan “grossly underestimates” how much radioactive material remains on site while a lack of documents inhibits the government’s ability to know exactly what is buried on site. The unknown nature of the site calls for a more intense security protocol to maintain public safety. BWX Technologies, the current owner of the site, currently holds a NRC license for activities at the site, which requires the protection of workers and the public. Part of that license is held in abeyance while the Corps’ FUSRAP remediates the site, but the Corps still needs to provide for the protection of workers and the public.

With the Department of Energy still mulling its contenders for the Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus program, Oklahoma officials recently shared more details of its proposal as it pushes to be selected as a host state.

According to a September presentation, Oklahoma’s campus would consist of Oklo’s Aurora Powerhouse reactors, an isotope production facility, multiple fuel cycle facilities, including enrichment and recycling, and permanent disposal of waste with borehole technology.

The state expects its campus to have a combined surface footprint of at least 1,040 acres, with the subsurface footprint to range from 800 to 2,000 acres. The underground area would be be determined by the siting of the spent fuel management disposal facility.

Former Oklahoma State Energy Secretary Jeff Starling said during a Sept. 30 public meeting the nuclear campus would be more valuable to communities than a data center because the nuclear complex would place electricity on the grid and add 25,000 jobs to the state.

While all six of the contenders have volunteered to take on waste disposal in some capacity, Oklahoma has put waste disposal at the core of its proposal. A lot of drilling for oil and gas occurs in the state, and it says it plans to leverage that expertise, with the use of borehole technology, to permanently dispose of the spent fuel.

“We’re an energy state, we’re comfortable with energy,” Starling said in a Sept. 30 local news press conference. “When you look at borehole technology where you do long lateral drilling, that’s something we’ve done here and been a part of our energy solution for 25 years. We know how to drill a well down a mile and over a mile as best as anybody.”

Oklahoma hopes to be one of the three states selected to receive a campus and expects DOE to make a decision by the end of this year. DOE officials earlier said they expected to sign one to three hosting agreements by the end of September. However, nothing has been announced yet.

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