[NukeNet] Liquid Nuclear Waste Plant Slated for New Mexico

[Mike Ewall]

[Thanks to the NucNews list for this one...]

Liquid Nuclear Waste Plant Slated for New Mexico

October 15, 2007 The Peacock Report

http://tpr.typepad.com/thepeacockreport/2007/10/liquid-nuclear-.html

RadiationsignNearly 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.

Mike Ewall
Energy Justice Network
215-743-4884
catalyst at actionpa.org
http://www.energyjustice.net