The decommissioning of the old nuclear power plant in Fort Greely can move forward after the federal agency that is in charge of the project has resolved an issue with the contract that stalled the process for more than one year.
The final phase of decommissioning and removing the long-discontinued SM-1A power and heat plant has been put on hold since the end of this year, after an organization that was in the process of submitting bids for the contract began making protests about how it was handled by the Army Corps of Engineers handled the bids.
The Corps has awarded an agreement worth $103 million for South Carolina’s Westinghouse Government Services last August. However, shortly thereafter, officials from another company Aptim-Amentum Alaska, which is based in Louisiana challenged the award to the Federal General Accounting Office. The GAO partially backed the appeal and ordered to the Corps of Engineers to reopen discussions with rival firms and review the bid proposals.
“We eventually made the decision to cancel the award after a thorough review of proposals” states Brenda Barber, the Corps project manager. “So the award has been awarded to Aptim-Amentum Alaska Decommissioning in addition, it is now the Westinghouse Government Services contract has been canceled.”
Barber stated Wednesday that when the Corps let the companies that were who were vying with it to present their final proposals, Aptimum Alaska Decommissioning commonly called A3D — cut its offer to $95.3 million.
“And it was judged as just (and) reasonable which led to the awarding of a prize,” she said.
This is all Barber could speak about the controversy. Barber referred all concerns towards the GAO.
“We do not usually talk on demonstrations” She said “just due to the sensibility.”
According to the online information regarding the dispute posted on an GAO website, A3D accused the Corps of not evaluating the competition Westinghouse proposal. A3D also complained to the Corps of not taking into consideration the absence of a so-called key personnel retention plan that was included in the Westinghouse proposal.
Barber explained that the lengthy review and re-evaluating proposals will mean the deadline for the completion of the project could be delayed by a year.
“So we’re aiming for 2029 at the moment,” she said, saying that it could be a long time before A3D to begin construction at the site. “We’re working on some issues related to the startup regarding the contract right now,” she said, “and we’re hoping that the construction on the site -physical work at the site will likely be six to eight months away.”
In the meantime, Barber says the Corps’s team that is assigned to the project will spend some time with Fort Greely and the 61-year-old building on the post in order to create detailed plans for project timeframes and engineering.
The SM-1A’s highly-enriched Uranium dioxide fuel and the majority of radioactive components that comprised the plant were taken away when it was shut down in 1972. Materials that remain have been buried in concrete or stored safely in the onsite storage facility. A large portion of it will be taken awayas as part of the agreement with A3D.
The facility produced up to 2 megawatts of power and as high as 20.2 megawatts of heat energy to power a central steam heating system.
Barber states that when remaining work is done after which the SM-1A as well as two other military nuclear power plants that were developed in the Cold War, will finally be shut down and decommissioned.
