ECA Update: October 11, 2016 |
IN THIS UPDATE: Waste Isolation Pilot Plant sees third ceiling collapse
Russia
suspends nuclear R&D pact with United States
Los Alamos to end radioactive on-site waste disposal
DOE Releases Request for Proposals for Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Technical Support Service
Opportunity: RFP for Deep Borehole Field Test
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant sees third ceiling collapseAiken
Standard October 8, 2016 New Mexico’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has suffered its third ceiling collapse.
The first collapse was discovered Sept. 27, and the following two
happened this past week. The third collapse was identified on Friday morning and was found to have followed the cave-in earlier in the week.
According to a WIPP update sent Friday evening, the area of the collapse continues to remain restricted for workers and
employees.
According to SRS Watch Director Tom Clements, who has been inside the facility, material regularly comes off of the walls and ceiling.
WIPP is an underground facility, cut into salt beds. Over time, groundwater and other natural forces are designed to form the salt deposits around the waste containers.
Russia suspends nuclear R&D pact with United StatesScience October 7, 2016 Even during the Cold War things were never this bad, U.S. officials say. On 5 October, the Russian government suspended an agreement with the United States on nuclear R&D cooperation and
terminated another on retooling Russian research reactors to no longer run on weapons-grade uranium fuel. The suspensions are largely symbolic, but have nonetheless plunged relations between the world’s most formidable nuclear powers to a new low and driven a new wedge between nuclear science communities that had forged close ties in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse a quarter-century ago.
In announcing the suspension of the
R&D agreement, the Russian government framed it as a “countermeasure” to U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia after its annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and support for rebels in eastern Ukraine. The collapse of Syrian peace talks and sharp U.S. criticism of Russia’s involvement in the bombing of Aleppo, Syria, appear to have precipitated Russia’s delayed retaliation, sources say. Russia also pulled out of another agreement with the United States on 3 October in which the two countries were
working to eliminate 34 tons of plutonium stockpiled in both countries—enough for about 17,000 bombs.
“We were really sorry to see the Russians do this,” says an official with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in Washington, D.C., who agreed to speak with Science on background. As the nations with the two biggest nuclear arsenals by far, “the United States and Russia have a special
responsibility to work together,” adds Andrew Bieniawski, vice president for material security and minimization at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., that promotes nonproliferation.
Los Alamos to end radioactive on-site waste disposal Albuquerque Journal October 6, 2016 LOS ALAMOS — Amid concerns from regulators over hazardous waste and contamination, a new report says the Los Alamos National Laboratory will stop disposing low-level radioactive waste at its largest waste disposal area by October 2017.
A recently released annual environmental report said the lab will end on-site radioactive waste disposal at the storage compound known as “Area G.” The Los Alamos Monitor reports
that Area G is the lab’s largest disposal area.
“The strategy for both low-level
radiological waste and mixed low-level waste is to minimize its generation and to dispose of all newly generated waste off-site. No new, on-site disposal capacity will be developed,” the report said.
The lab was shipping the low-level waste from Area G to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad. That stopped when an improperly packed barrel shipped from the lab exploded at the plant in February 2014.
DOE Releases Request for Proposals for Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Technical Support Services
Albuquerque Journal October 6, 2016 Cincinnati -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) Technical Support Services (TSS) acquisition. An Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract from which Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) and Time-and-Materials (T&M) task orders may be issued is anticipated.
The RFP is being issued as a small business set-aside, and the IDIQ contract ordering period is five (5) years from date of contract award. The IDIQ contract contains a $20 Thousand guaranteed minimum value of services and a $49 Million maximum value of services. These
services are currently being performed by Professional Project Services, Inc. (Pro2Serve) via a Blanket Purchase Agreement.
Opportunity: RFP for Deep Borehole Field TestDOE-ID October 5, 2016 Research and development (R&D) is being proposed by the Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office to assess the viability of deep borehole disposal (DBD) as one alternative for the disposal of smaller DOE-managed waste forms.
DOE intends to conduct a Deep Borehole Field Test (DBFT) to further evaluate the technical feasibility capabilities for implementation to and obtain data on the geological, hydrological, geochemical, and
geomechanical characteristics of the deep borehole environment that can be used to inform DOE on future decisions. The DBFT includes drilling a characterization borehole to a depth of about 5,000 m (16,400 feet) into crystalline basement rock in a geologically stable continental location. No radioactive waste will be used in the test. The place of contract performance is to be proposed by offerors.
This Request for Proposals (RFP) is a full and open competitive solicitation and is not set aside for small businesses.Comment is due by October 21, 2016. |
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| October 2016 | | 11-13 | Energy, Technology and Environmental Business Association's Business Opportunities Conference in Knoxville, TN
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| October 2016 | | 13 | DOE-EM Business Opportunity Forum in Knoxville,
TN |
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| October 2016 | | 15 | DOE-EM Site Specific Advisory Board Meeting in Paducha, KY
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| October 2016 | | 20 | DOE-EM Site Specific Advisory Board Meeting in Paducha, KY |
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| October 2016 | | 24-26 | DOE-EM Industry Day and One-on-One Sessions for SRS M&O Contract Procurement in Augusta,
GA |
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| October 2016 | | 26 | DOE-EM Site Specific Advisory Board Meeting in Pojoaque, NM |
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| October 2016 | | 27 | DOE-EM Community Day for SRS M&O Contract Procurement in Augusta, GA |
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| October 2016 | | 29 | DOE-LM 10th Aniversary of Fernald Cleanup: "Weapons to Wetlands: A Decade of Difference" in Hamilton, OH |
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| November 2016 | | 16-18 | INVITATION ONLY 2016 Intergovernmental Meeting with DOE in New Orleans, LA |
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Find the most recent ECA Bulletin here |
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