Aptim wins $630 million contract for cleanup of naval reactor sites

Awarded under the DOE’s Nationwide Deactivation, Decommissioning, and Removal (DD&R) program, the task order contract covers DD&R services at the Kesselring Site in West Milton, N.Y., and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Niskayuna, N.Y. Services include demolishing excess facilities and cleanup of ancillary structures.

According to DOE-EM, additional work may be negotiated to expand services to the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin, Pa. All three sites are managed and operated under contract to the DOE by Fluor subsidiary Fluor Marine Propulsion Corporation.

The task order was competed for amongst the nine firms that were awarded nationwide DD&R indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts, DOE-EM announced on June 27.

Kesselring: Located near Saratoga Springs, N.Y., the Kesselring site was originally developed for testing early nuclear reactor designs. In 1950, the site changed its focus to testing of nuclear propulsion plants in the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program and subsequently for training navy operators for these reactors.

Kesselring was home to the S3G prototype reactor, which was shut down in 1991 with DD&R work completed in 2006, and the D1G prototype reactor, which was shut down in 1996 and is in the process of being dismantled.

Knolls: Established in 1946 under contract between the General Electric Company and the Manhattan Engineering District, Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory’s mission was to support the chemical separation of plutonium and uranium from irradiated fuel. Focus then shifted to naval nuclear propulsion plants. Knolls produced the S2G naval reactor, a liquid metal–cooled reactor design the powered the USS Seawolf, the world’s second nuclear-powered submarine.

Bettis: Founded in 1949, the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory developed Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s original design of the pressurized water reactor for naval use. It built the nuclear propulsion plants for the first U.S. nuclear submarines and surface ships, including the USS Nautilus, USS George Washington, USS Long Beach, and USS Enterprise.