THE PEACOCK REPORT (TPR)

NASA Creates Unit to Hasten Dawning of Nukes on Moon

The eventual deployment of nuclear reactors on the Moon blasted a baby step closer to reality today, with NASA embarking upon the creation of a new unit tasked with bringing such a nuclear capability to fruition. The Technology Demonstration Unit (TDU) for Fission Surface Power (FSP) on Nov. 14 began searching for potential contractors capable of helping the new entity to initially develop and test a "simulated nucelar heat source," according to a presolicitation notice that The Peacock Report (TPR) located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database. The TDU is "planned as a 5 or 6-year activity with concept definition and risk reduction that could lead to the start of a potential flight development program in the future," the document says:

FSP systems provide a potential option to support future human exploration missions on the Moon and Mars. FSP is a current technology project under the Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) sponsored by the NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.

TPR broke the story early last year that the Bush Administration envisions building nuclear facilities and robotic spacecraft-manufacturing plants on the Moon as a critical step in eventually sending humans to Mars (see TPR, 03/23/2006; New Details of U.S. Moon-Base Project Reveal Nuclear Intentions).

DOE Step Closer To Building New Uranium Processing Plant

The construction of a new uranium processing plant in the U.S. came one step closer to reality this week as the Dept. of Energy (DoE) began soliciting bids for facility architectural-design services. According to a procurement document that The Peacock Report (TPR) located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, the non-reactor nuclear project at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee has an estimated overall value of $1.4-$2.4 billion. Additional details of the endeavor are available at the Y-12 website. BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT), a subsidiary of McDermott International, Inc., is the prime contractor operating the Y-12 facility. BWXT likewise has separate contracts to operate various nuclear energy and weapons-production sites around the nation, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Rocky Flats nuclear cleanup site, and the Savannah River Site.

Separately, TPR also discovered that DoE intends to put up for sale 250 metric tons of surplus, off-spec low-enriched uranium (LEU) on the global market. According to a DoE/National Nuclear Safety Administration document dated Oct. 17, potential buyers include "commercial nuclear power companies, nuclear fuel cycle suppliers, or teams consisting of several interested firms. The LEU being offered will be derived from processing and down-blending of highly enriched uranium (HEU) metals, oxides and reactor fuel elements at the Savannah River Site (SRS) H Canyon and associated facilities near Aiken, South Carolina. This material will produce LEU that does not meet applicable ASTM specifications for commercial nuclear power reactor fuel."

Liquid Nuclear Waste Plant Slated for New Mexico

Nearly 10 million liters of radioactive liquid will be processed annually at a new waste-treatment facility that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) intends to build in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, according to a planning document that The Peacock Report located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database. Construction of the new facility, which is slated to begin in the spring of 2009 and be completed by December 2010, has an estimated cost of $40-$65 million, the Sources Sought notice says.

This subcontracting action is connected to a larger endeavor involving the creation of a new nuclear facility for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The goal at this stage is to assess the "availability and adequacy of potential business sources" capable of constructing facilities that handle liquid nuclear waste. The document, dated Oct. 10, describes the projected new treatment plant as containing:

[A] basement, main floor, and mezzanine with an overall footprint of 120-ft by 90ft. The basement level is 90-ft by 90-ft and is partially below grade. The basement level includes reaction tanks, waste packaging, influent storage tanks, chemical receipt and storage, and exterior drum storage. [emphasis added] The main level includes the change rooms (showers, lockers, storage), access control, equipment room, control room, briefing room, and process equipment. The building ventilation system exhaust includes high-efficiency particulate air filter assemblies and the facility design incorporates safety significant structures, systems and components.

NNSA anticipates releasing a more detailed Request for Proposals in the fall of 2008, with the subsequent awarding of contracts in the winter of 2009.

Retired Nuke Site to Ship Waste from Ohio to Texas

A former uranium-processing facility in southwestern Ohio is gearing up for the shipment of nuclear waste to destinations across the nation, with one known site being Andrews County, Texas.

The Fernald Closure Project, a multi-billion-dollar endeavor involving the environmental remediation of a tainted Dept. of Energy (DoE) site, extends until Oct. 31, 2009, previous contracts that DoE awarded to Fluor Corp. and later extended to Waste Control Specialists, LLC, (WCS) of Andrews, Texas.

DoE intends to award a sole-source contract extension to WCS for the "interim storage" of byproducts that the Fernald facilty produced during the Cold War. This award also has options to "permanently dispose" waste from Fernald Silos 1 and 2 as well as to prepare and load "waste containers for transport," according to a DoE planning document that The Peacock Report has located.

Energy Dept. Gets Ready for More Nuclear Power in Space

The U.S. government appears to be gearing up for additional nuclear-powered, space-based operations, as it is now amassing a list of potential contractors capable of providing support for such endeavors. According to a "sources sought" notice that The Peacock Report located through a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) is conducting a market survey of firms "capable of providing specialized technical, analytical, advisory and assistance and administrative support services" to DoE's Office of Nuclear Energy. This DoE unit, also known as NE-34, is particularly interested in partnering with companies experienced in the area of "space radioisotope power systems" -- the same kind of nuclear-enabled power source that makes possible the controversial Cassini space probe's continued flight across the solar system.

The Oct. 1997 launch of the Cassini spacecraft had met fierce resistance from opponents who unsuccessfully sought to halt the launch based on their position that the ship's power system -- packed with 72.3 pounds of plutonium -- was a threat to humanity.

The Lockheed Martin Titan IV rocket carrying the craft had a track record of mishaps, including an explosion three years earlier which sent a billion-dollar U.S. spy satellite plummeting into the Pacific Ocean. Although the same class of rocket ultimately catapulted the Cassini probe into outer space without complication, critics claim that NASA had done so after recklessly gambling on the health of the world's inhabitants, all of whom potentially would have been subjected to traces of cancer-causing plutonium.

This most recent nuclear initiative seeks to cull together nationwide experts to assist in the development of new radioisotope systems as well as to provide guidance on terrestrial radioisotope power systems and space reactor power systems. DoE similarly is looking for information from firms capable of providing launch operations and project management assistance as well as nuclear safety analysis services.

DoE expects to award contracts prior to April 1, when work could feasibly commence at multiple vendor sites, according to the document:

"This effort will require travel to various DOE facilities and locations. On-site performance at selected DOE facility will be required. Day to day interaction with NE-34 is a requirement for this contract; the Contractor shall maintain its facility within 40 miles of the NE-34 Germantown [Maryland] Office."

It remains unclear whether this endeavor is related to the Bush Administration's proposal to build a colony on the Moon. That project includes tentative plans to construct a nuclear power plant there, a March 23, 2006 breaking story that TPR was the first to report via the piece New Details of U.S. Moon-Base Project Reveal Nuclear Intentions.

Energy Dept. Plans Further Cleanup of Nuclear Waste in Washington State

Nuclear "burial grounds" at a U.S. Dept. of Energy-owned wasteland in southeastern Washington state are slated to undergo additional environmental remediation this summer, part of a larger cleanup aimed at ultimately removing millions of tons of contaminated soil and materials.

The 586 square-mile area known as the Hanford Site operated for 50 years as a military plutonium-production facility, beginning with the Manhattan Project’s World War II development of one of the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

Washington Closure Hanford LLC (WHC), which DoE selected in 2005 as the prime contractor for the initiative, is vetting potential subcontractors to focus on the cleanup of specific radiological trenches and other nuclear hotspots at the sprawling Benton County complex. According to a contracting document that TPR located during a routine search of the FedBizOpps procurement database, this phase of the remediation effort will take between two and four years to complete at an additional cost of $10-$20 million.

The contracting document, dated Dec. 14, says that work for the latest procurement action involves "excavation and removal of radiologically and/or chemically contaminated soils and debris. Work may be performed in radiation areas (including High Radiation Areas and Airborne Radiation Areas)..."

This segment of the cleanup is just one part of a larger effort centering on a 210-mile stretch of land along the Colombia River corridor, portions of which in 2000 were designated as the Hanford Reach National Monument/Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge. According to WHC’s website, the cleanup "is scheduled to be completed in 2012 and cost $1.9 billion." During that time, WHC will "decontaminate and remove 510 facilities, close or remediate 486 waste sites, cocoon three reactors, and dispose of about four million tons of contaminated material."

To put the breadth of this endeavor in additional context, progress made -- and progress that needs to be made -- was spelled out in a 1,256-page declassified report released a year ago.

Public meetings and updates on the Hanford Site are regularly held in Richland, WA. For further information, a DoE "public involvement" site is available.

U.S. To Ship Tons of Uranium Across Globe for Nuke Energy Production

Over 17 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU) are slated for transfer into the hands of private contractors, whom under the auspices of the U.S. Dept. of Energy program will "down-blend" the weapons-grade material into nuclear reactor-friendly low-enriched uranium (LEU) -- which would then be shipped to foreign nations. The purported goal of the project is to dissuade other countries from pursuing uranium enrichment weapons-development programs, a measure which the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) hopes to accomplish by providing those nations with the products necessary to move forward with nuclear energy initiatives.

The Reliable Fuel Supply program seeks to "ensure reliable access to nuclear fuel feedstock for power reactors in foreign countries...," according to a planning document that TPR located through a routine search of the FedBizOpps database. The Nov. 8 document further notes that "This material will provide a significant reserve that will increase the confidence of countries voluntarily choosing not to pursue enrichment and reprocessing that they will not risk losing the benefits of nuclear power."

The selected contractor will convert 17.5 MT of the highly enriched uranium into 40 MT of the low-enriched uranium, it said. NNSA's Office of Fissile Materials Disposition will oversee the activities of the vendor, who likewise will be responsible for transporting "a substantial majority" of the resulting low enriched uranium to an unnamed, designated storage facility.

NNSA did not specify what percentage of this "substantial majority" of LEU would be shipped internationally. Similarly, it vaguely noted that "much" of this reprocessed uranium would be given to the contractor as compensation for its efforts, in addition to the execution of a "property loan agreement" to conduct the operation.

The agency plans to release a formal Request for Proposals for this endeavor sometime in late December or early January. It also said it expects to award a five-year contract by April or May 2007.

DoE Plans Further Volcanic, Seismic Testing at Yucca Mountain Nuke Dump

Further assessments of volcanic and seismic activity near the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Depository in Nevada is planned for early 2007, according to a Dept. of Energy (DoE) procurement document that The Peacock Report has obtained. Whereas DoE has previously claimed that volcanic activity is unlikely for the next 10,000 years, the State of Nevada rejected that claim as unfounded. Bechtel SAIC Co., DoE's prime contractor for the nuclear waste site, will outsource this testing, which will involve the deep drilling of 44 boreholes in a location known as Area 25 of the Nevada Test Site.

DoE anticipates releasing a more detailed Request for Proposals on or around Oct. 16, 2006. "The estimated period of performance is to begin work in January 15, 2007 with an expected duration not to exceed six (6) months," the Aug. 28 presolicitation notice said.

DoE May Expand Industry Involvement In Nuke-Dump Licensing Process

Private-sector nuclear energy providers will have a chance to bid on three projects – rather than just one, as previously intended – to help the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DoE) obtain Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approval to build a radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

TPR reported in late June that DoE was reaching out to industry to review, and possibly revise, a draft waste-disposal license application, the approval of which requires NRC blessing prior to allowing DoE’s prime contractor – Bechtel SAIC, Co. – to develop and open an underground storage facility. The license review and consultation, which initially was one segment of three distinct DoE audits of the repository project, has itself been tentatively divided into three contracting actions -- the overall goal of which involves the hiring a team of experts to review "the entire license application and repository design" and ensure the draft documents satisfy applicable NRC regulations.

DoE’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) late last week issued a revised "sources sought" notice to industry, explaining that it is "considering" obtaining these "license defense" services via three separate contracts whose potential value remains undisclosed. Nuclear transportation planning and implementation activities are among the areas that these contracts would support. Second is the provision of "expert support" to OCRWM in "completing, submitting and potentially defending a license application." The third segment involves assistance with professional and technical management and administrative affairs during the licensing process.

Potential contractors must have "significant experience and expertise" in NRC licensing, nuclear facility design and operations, tunnel design and operations, and working in an NRC regulated environment, the notice says..

Contractors specifically must be capable of assisting DOE by:

(1) Ensuring the sufficiency and readiness of licensing documents for filing with NRC.

(2) Carrying out technical reviews of design documents and operating plans for surface nuclear facilities;

(3) Technical reviews of tunneling plans and underground facility designs;

(4) Technical review of operating plans for subsurface facilities;

(5) Technical reviews of science and performance assessments;

(6) Preparing an organization to be an NRC licensee'

(7) Explaining highly technical subject matter to a non-technical audience.

Work will be performed at DoE headquarters in Washington, D.C. as well as in Las Vegas.

Defense Firm Gets No-Bid Bomb Support Contract Amidst Conflict of Interest Claims

Defense manufacturer EDO Corp. is getting a sole-source contract to provide conventional- and nuclear-bomb ejectors to the U.S. Air Force, in spite of revelations that one of its board members simultaneously led a Pentagon-supported think-tank which consulted the Dept. of Defense on the procurement of the F-22 Raptor program -- a multibillion-dollar aerospace project for which EDO is a subcontractor. While the Washington Post today reported the imminent resignation of Retired Admiral Dennis C. Blair -- who is both EDO Corp. president and board member of the DoD-funded Institue for Defense Analysis -- The Peacock Report has discovered that the Air Force Material Command plans to award the noncompetitive contract to EDO for the bomb-ejector racks. The potential value of the contract was not disclosed.

While the conflict of interest allegations have begun to draw media and congressional attention in the U.S., an EDO affiliate in the U.K. separately has come under fire from pro-Palestinian British activists for providing the Israeli Defense Forces with technologies that they claim are "likely" being used to cause the death of civilians in Gaza, the BBC reported.