SPECIAL NOTICE
99 -- DE-EM0002103 Mod 005 Justification for Other Than Full & Open Competition
- Notice Date
- 5/12/2014
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Office of River ProtectionU.S. Department of EnergyOffice of River ProtectionP.O. Box 450RichlandWA99352US
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- E-Mail Address
-
Garcia, David R
(david_garcia@orp.doe.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- 1. Action Code: Modification 2. Date: May 12 3. Year: 2014 4. Contracting Office Zip Code: 99354 5. Classification Code: B ? Special Studies and Analysis ? Not R&D 6. Contracting Office Address: 2440 Stevens Center Place, P.O. Box 450, Richland, WA, 99354 7. Subject: Sole Source Contract Modification 8. Proposed Solicitation Number: N/A 9. Closing Response Date: 15 days from date of issuance of synopsis 10. Contact Point or Contracting Officer: Any questions or comments regarding this action should be emailed to David Garcia, Contract Specialist, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of River Protection (ORP), Richland, WA 99354; email David_Garcia@orp.doe.gov 11. Contract Award/Solicitation Number: DE-EM0002103 Modification 005 12. Contract Award Dollar Amount: Approximately $3,000,000 13. Contract Line Item Number: 0018 through 0022 14. Contract Award Date: ORP intends to issue the modification in the third quarter of calendar year 2014. All work is expected to be complete within 13 months after award of the modification. 15. Contractor: EnergySolutions Federal EPC, Inc. 16. Description: ORP intends to award a firm-fixed price modification to Contract Number DE-EM0002103, by means other than full and open competition. ORP intends to award a sole-source contract modification to EnergySolutions Federal EPC, Inc., located at 2345 Stevens Drive, Suite 240, Richland, WA 99354. Work under Modification 005 will support development of the vitrification process for the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). The WTP is expected to treat both high-level waste (HLW) and low-activity waste (LAW). CLIN 0018: Effect of Form of Chromium on Spinel Formation A number of Hanford HLW streams contain sufficiently high concentrations of chromium for it to become the waste loading limiting component in the waste. Chromium has relatively low solubility in borosilicate glasses and leads to the formation of various crystal phases including spinels. The extent of crystal formation must be managed during melter processing to prevent operational issues and potential premature melter failure that can result from excessive accumulation of crystals in the melter. In recent work for ORP, high-waste loading glass formulations were developed for representative HLW streams that are high in chromium. Results from those studies showed differences in the crystallization behavior between glasses prepared in crucible melts and those prepared in DM100 joule heated melter runs. Understanding the cause of those differences has the potential to lead to the development of methods to further increase waste loadings for high chromium HLW streams through contr ol of the formation of chromium-bearing crystals. Testing is required to elucidate the origins of the observed differences but potential causes include differences in the form of components in the batch, including the form of chromium, as well as redox effects. In both cases, it is likely that these effects could be controlled through melter feed composition modifications. The work in this task will focus on determining the origins of the observed differences in crystallization behavior, as well as the effects of the form of chromium in the batch and the redox state of the melt on spinel crystallization. Based on those results, the work will also explore potential melter feed additives to influence the redox state of chromium in the melt and its effect on spinel crystallization. The objectives will be accomplished through a combination of crucible scale tests, small-scale tests under controlled redox conditions, and melter tests. CLIN 0019: Effect of Minor Components on Salt Formation Minor components such as S, Cr, Cl, F, P have a significant effect on sulfate salt formation, which is an issue for both LAW and HLW vitrification. In particular, in direct feed HLW options that are being considered for the WTP, less effective washing of the HLW solids could lead to increased levels of these species in the HLW feeds. Testing of the propensity for salt formation during vitrification ultimately requires testing on small- and pilot-scale joule-heated melter systems. However, in previous work, several very effective crucible-scale screening tests have been developed and employed to screen for sulfate salt separation in order to minimize the number of the more costly melter tests that are required. Until recently, these screening tests were limited in their ability to include the important effects of other very volatile minor components such as Cl and F. As part of recent work for ORP, VSL developed a closed crucible glass melt testing method that was found to be effective in keeping the volatile components in the closed crucible. Using this method, salt formation in LAW melts was studied while maintaining high Cl concentrations in the melt. Thus, this method provides an effective screening test to efficiently address the effects of other minor components on salt formation. In this task the closed crucible method will be extended to other LAW compositions and to HLW melts to investigate the effects of various minor components such as S, Cr, Cl, F and P on secondary sulfate phase formation. The melts will be prepared in the closed crucibles with excess amounts of volatile components so that the concentrations of components in the melt that exist in equilibrium with a salt phase can be determined. The study will be used to define the upper limits of the concentrations of minor components, especially volatile minor components, which can be present in the melter feed without the risk of secondary salt phase formation in the melter. Thus, this work will serve to better define the operating envelope with respect to these constituents. CLIN 0020: Nepheline Management in Hanford HLW Glass A number of Hanford HLW streams contain high concentrations of Al and Na, resulting in nepheline formation during CCC becoming the waste loading limiting constraint in about 30% of HLW glass to be produced at the WTP. Previous work by VSL/EnergySolutions has identified high waste loading glass formulations that meet all processing and product quality requirements to treat a number of these HLW streams. However, these formulations would be excluded by the nepheline constraint that is presently employed by the WTP. Accordingly, an improved nepheline discriminator is needed that would allow access to these demonstrated high waste loading formulations. At present, there are insufficient data to define composition boundaries to separate composition spaces that are prone to nepheline crystallization from those that are not. This work will be focused on developing a method to predict nepheline formation on CCC as a function of glass composition and defining composition boundaries to ensure that the glass compositions selected for waste processing at the WTP will not be prone to nepheline crystallization. This effort will build on previous work done by VSL and others for DOE and its contractors. Statistically designed glass composition matrices will be used to cover composition ranges of interest. Crucible melts of the resulting glass compositions will be prepared and characterized for their tendency for nepheline crystallization on CCC. The newly collected data, along with existing data on high-Al glasses, will be used to develop models that relate nepheline formation to glass composition. The nepheline models will be used as part of the constraints in HLW glass property-composition models to define acceptable glass compositions for HLW processing at the WTP. CLIN 0021: Optimization of LAW Glass Former Additives Melter feeds for LAW waste vitrification are prepared by adding suitable glass former additives to the waste. The glass former additives for the WTP baseline feeds include silica (SiO2), kyanite (Al2O3, SiO2), boric acid (B2O3), wollastonite (CaO, SiO2), iron oxide (Fe2O3), olivine (MgO, SiO2), lithium carbonate (Li2O), rutile (TiO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), and zircon (ZrO2, SiO2); the major oxides provided by each of the raw materials are provided in parenthesis. The higher waste loading ORP glass formulations employ three more additives, namely SnO2, V2O5 and Cr2O3. Previous work to support the WTP baseline selection of glass former additives concentrated on the rheology, settling, and stability of the resulting melter feed. In addition, the feed concentrations were maintained at a target glass yield of about 1000 g/l by adjusting the concentration of the waste. However, no effort was directed towards exploring the effect of particle size or raw material form on feed processing rate. Consequently, a reevaluation and possible further optimization of the LAW glass former additives is appropriate to determine whether increases in melting rates are possible through adjustments in the glass former additives. Under the LAW direct feed scenario, LAW at various concentrations may be delivered to the WTP and, therefore, there is a need to develop melter feeds with acceptable rheology at various feed solids contents. In addition, some of the glass former additive raw materials that were previously selected for the WTP baseline are no longer available commercially from the selected vendors, so new raw materials or new raw material sources need to be identified. This task will focus on identifying LAW glass former additives, with particular emphasis on their effect on feed processing rate, while maintaining feed rheological properties within the bounds specified by WTP. Variables that will be tested include different raw material sources that are economical and commercially available, and different particle sizes, especially for silica. Rheological studies will also be extended to LAW melter feeds at various solids contents and potential strategies to control their rheological properties within WTP bounds. The objectives will be accomplished through a combination of rheological property measurements, vertical gradient furnace (VGF) tests as screening tools for feed processing rate, and DM100 melter tests to confirm feed processing characteristics. CLIN 0022: Support for Direct Feed LAW In the LAW direct feed option, the pretreatment facility is bypassed and LAW is fed to the vitrification facility with minimal in-tank or near-tank pretreatment, which will likely involve ion-exchange and solids removal. Without the capability for evaporation, some feeds to the vitrification facility will be delivered at much lower than design concentrations. The secondary waste from the melter operations will either be stored or treated and disposed. To support development of the direct feed LAW flowsheet, it is necessary to determine the compositions of the effluents from the off-gas system, especially the Submerged Bed Scrubber (SBS) and the Wet Electrostatic Precipitator (WESP), in order to assess potential disposition strategies for those streams. One of the DM10 melter systems installed at the VSL has been equipped with the components that are prototypical of those in the WTP primary off-gas systems, specifically, the SBS and the WESP; the DM10 system also includes a va cuum evaporator that allows testing to be conducted under recycle conditions. This is an efficient and economical system on which to obtain information on the compositions of the primary off-gas system effluents. In this task, DM10 melter tests will be conducted with candidate LAW feeds to determine primary off-gas system effluent compositions. Initial testing will be performed using a WTP LAW feed that has already been tested in the HLW Pilot Melter so that a comparison can be obtained between data from the HLW Pilot Melter system and the DM10 system. A second series of tests will be conducted using an ORP LAW feed previously tested on the DM100 at different solids concentration to determine the effect of feed solids concentration on primary off gas effluent concentrations. 17. Place of Contract Performance: Catholic University of America, Vitreous State Laboratory; Washington D.C. 20064. 18. Set-Aside Status: Not set-aside Competition Exception: ORP has determined that this requirement can only be satisfied by the unique services offered by EnergySolutions Federal EPC, Inc. The statutory authority permitting this action is 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1), where a determination has been made that the supplies or services required by the agency are available from only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. EnergySolutions Federal EPC, Inc., through its exclusivity agreement with Catholic University of America (CUA), Vitreous State Laboratory (VSL), is the only firm that is uniquely capable of providing the technical expertise and facilities necessary to complete the tasks described above. These tasks will be performed at the glass development laboratory and melter test facility at CUA-VSL, in Washington, D.C. Performance of these tasks requires the use of DM10, DM100, and DM1200 melters (the three melters reside at CUA-VSL); and expertise with LAW and HLW formulation/property rel ationships. EnergySolutions Federal EPC, Inc. is the only source with the required equipment (CUA-VSL houses the only DM10, DM100, and DM1200 melters in existence) and technical expertise to perform the work in the required timeframe. Unsolicited Proposals: All responsible sources may submit a capability statement which shall be considered by the agency.
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