64104 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 239 / Wednesday, December 13, 1995 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Request for Expressions of Interest for

Tritium Production

AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Request for expressions of

interest.

SUMMARY: Tritium is an essential

material in all nuclear weapons in the

U.S. nuclear stockpile. Because the U.S.

is not currently producing tritium,

development of a new tritium supply

will be essential for maintaining the

U.S. nuclear deterrent. The Department

of Energy’s preferred strategy for

acquiring new supplies of tritium is to

pursue the two most promising

production alternatives: (1) use of one or

more existing Commercial Light Water

Reactors (CLWRs); and (2) to design,

build and test critical components of an

Accelerator-Produced Tritium (APT)

system to be used for tritium

production. By this Notice, DOE is

requesting expressions of interest

concerning DOE’s possible acquisition

of one or more CLWRs, or acquisition of

irradiation services from CLWRs, for the

production of tritium. In addition, this

request will solicit interest regarding the

future potential use of mixed oxide fuel

from surplus weapons plutonium either

coincident with or separate from tritium

production. The use of mixed oxide fuel

is not part of DOE’s preferred strategy

for acquiring new supplies of tritium

and no firm decisions have been made

regarding the use of such fuel.

Nevertheless, DOE is seeking to

ascertain industry interest in the

possible use of mixed oxide fuel for

disposal of surplus weapons plutonium.

DATES: Initial expressions of interest

should be submitted on or before

January 29, 1996. Supplementary

information regarding the expressions of

interest should be submitted on or

before February 26, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Requests for information,

and submittal of initial and

supplemental expressions of interest

(original plus five (5) copies, citing this

Notice), should be directed to: Stephen

M. Sohinki, Director, Office of

Reconfiguration, DP–25, United States

Department of Energy, 1000

Independence Ave. SW., Washington

D.C. 20585, Attention: Tritium EOI,

Telephone: (202) 586–0838.

Answers to questions that, in DOE’s

judgment, are of general interest and

applicability to all potential

respondents will be made available for

review in DOE’s Public Reading Room

at DOE Headquarters in Washington,

D.C.

I. Purpose

A. Dual Path Strategy for Tritium

Supply

Tritium, an essential material in U.S.

nuclear weapons, decays at a rate of

approximately five percent per year

(12.3 year half life). The U.S. is not

currently producing tritium.

Resumption of tritium production will

be essential for maintaining the U.S.

nuclear weapons stockpile and the U.S.

nuclear deterrent. Tritium could be

required as early as 2005 should the

START II treaty not be ratified and

implemented according to its terms. If

the START II treaty is ratified and

implemented as written tritium would

be required in 2011.

DOE distributed its Tritium Supply

and Recycling Programmatic

Environmental Impact Statement in

October, 1995, in which it announced

its preferred ‘‘dual path’’ strategy for

acquiring a new supply of tritium. That

strategy is to begin work on the two

most promising production alternatives:

(1) to procure an option or options to

purchase or lease one or more existing

CLWRs or procure CLWR irradiation

services for tritium production; and (2)

to design, build and test critical

components of an APT system for

tritium production. A decision to

implement the DOE’s preferred dual

path strategy for tritium production,

based upon the Programmatic

Environmental Impact Statement and

related cost, schedule and technical

analyses, was announced in a Record of

Decision issued on December 5, 1995.

The CLWR and APT options present

very different approaches and pose

fundamentally different technical and

institutional issues that must be

evaluated to provide a basis for

selection. During the next three years,

DOE will be undertaking the research

and analyses necessary to provide the

technical, economic and regulatory

bases for the selection of the primary

and backup technology approaches by

1998. If the CLWR option is not selected

as the primary source of tritium,

however, DOE intends to go forward

with some form of the CLWR option as

a backup for the APT, as a contingency

for U.S. national defense requirements.

B. Tritium Target Development

To produce tritium in a reactor,

tritium target rods must be inserted into

the reactor to capture neutrons and

generate tritium. A lithium-aluminate,

getter-barrier target design for use in a

CLWR is currently under development.

Tritium is produced via neutron capture

in the lithium and the tritium generated

is captured in a Zircaloy getter. The

target rod outer cladding is stainless

steel which has an aluminide inner

coating to prevent tritium release. DOE’s

target development has focused on PWR

technology, with target dimensions

sized so that the target can be placed in

either burnable poison or fuel rod

locations. Following irradiation, target

rods would be removed from the reactor

as part of the refueling process and

shipped to DOE’s Savannah River Site

where the tritium would be extracted.

Depending on production requirements,

between 2000 to 5000 target rods would

be needed per fuel cycle. A single

reactor or multiple reactors could be

utilized. Target development work to

date indicates that reactor fuel

enrichment need not exceed five (5)

percent.

DOE’s target development work has

progressed to the point that it is now

appropriate to evaluate potential reactor

candidates for the production mission.

C. Acquisition of Option

DOE is interested in acquiring one or

more options to purchase or lease an

existing commercial reactor or reactors,

or to procure irradiation services from

one or more such reactors. To

accomplish this DOE will consider

different types of options, as described

in detail below. To facilitate assessing

the feasibility of these options, DOE is

requesting expressions of interest.

This Request for Expressions of

Interest is not intended to be a

solicitation for proposals, and it is not

anticipated that an award will be made

based on the expressions of interest

received. Depending on the nature of

the responses received and subsequent

determinations by DOE, a formal

solicitation for competitive proposals

may be issued in the future, and awards

may be made based upon an evaluation

of proposals received pursuant to the

evaluation criteria as stated in the

solicitation. However, DOE may utilize

the information received in response to

this request to take any other action as

authorized by law to fulfill the

government’s requirements for the

production of tritium, and potential

disposition of surplus weapons

plutonium, including a noncompetitive

process.

For the information of potential

respondents, a preliminary procurement

schedule is provided as an appendix to

this Notice. The preliminary schedule

provided in the appendix is tentative

and depends upon a number of factors,

including the nature of the responses to

this Request, meetings which may be

conducted with respondents, and the

need for and schedule of necessary

technical studies and analyses.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 239 / Wednesday, December 13, 1995 / Notices 64105

Respondents are encouraged to provide

comments on the schedule so that DOE

may be made aware of any concerns and

attempt to alleviate them to the extent

consistent with programmatic

requirements.

D. Potential Use of Mixed Oxide Fuel

From Surplus Weapons Plutonium

DOE is currently examining options

for the disposal of surplus weapons

plutonium and is preparing a

Programmatic Environmental Impact

Statement (PEIS) on storage and

disposition of weapons-usable fissile

materials, scheduled for completion in

late 1996. However, to facilitate the

Department’s ongoing efforts to assess

the feasibility of disposal of surplus

weapons plutonium through the use of

mixed oxide fuel in existing light water

reactors, the Department is taking the

opportunity of this request for

expressions of interest to solicit

information regarding the general level

of industry interest in the potential

future use of mixed oxide fuel from

surplus weapons plutonium either

coincident with (multipurpose) or

separate from tritium production. A

reactor operator need not be interested

in use of mixed oxide fuel, however, in

order to respond to the request for

expressions of interest for tritium

production.

II. Areas of DOE Interest

DOE is considering acquiring in 1997

or 1998 one or more options to:

• Purchase or lease an operating

reactor or reactors, including options to

purchase a complete facility, purchase a

reactor without any power-generating

systems, obtain a long-term lease of a

facility or part of a facility or other

similar arrangements, or purchase an

uncompleted reactor or reactors; or

• Purchase target irradiation services,

including all possibilities ranging from

obtaining all tritium from a single

reactor to using several reactors (the

number of reactors to be utilized would

depend, among other things, on the

quantity of tritium required). An option

to purchase irradiation services may

also include an option to purchase the

reactor or reactors being utilized to

provide the services.

These options would be exercised

after all necessary regulatory approvals

have been obtained.

DOE may also desire an option to

conduct irradiation and other testing of

a Lead Test Assembly (LTA) target as a

prelude to tritium production. Followon tritium production may be

accomplished in the same reactor or

reactors that were used for irradiation of

the LTA, or in a different reactor or

reactors. Reactors to be considered may

need to be available for testing of tritium

targets not later than July, 1997, and for

mission use in about 2003, and would

need to have sufficient remaining useful

life to meet mission needs. Candidate

reactors should have licenses with

expiration dates of 2020 or later.

DOE’s target development work has

focused on targets for use in pressurized

water reactors (PWRs). Although tritium

targets could be developed for use in

boiling water reactors (BWRs),

significant additional development

work would likely be required at

substantial additional cost. DOE does

not plan to develop such targets, given

existing budget constraints and the need

to complete target development and

qualification in the required time frame.

However, DOE has not ruled out the use

of BWRs and would be interested in

expressions of interest with respect to

both the use of BWR plants and to the

development of BWR tritium targets.

In addition to the above, if the option

of using existing light water reactors

were to be selected for the disposition

of surplus weapons plutonium when the

DOE completes its Programmatic

Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS)

on storage and disposition of weaponsusable fissile materials in late 1996,

DOE would intend to embark on a

mixed oxide fuel (MOX) test and

demonstration program including

regulatory review and testing of lead test

assemblies. Thus, DOE requests that

respondents indicate their interest, if

any, in participating in such a potential

test program.

Respondents should provide

information that is as accurate as

possible, but information provided will

not be considered as binding nor all

inclusive.

Respondents are requested to provide

expressions of interest in two parts over

a 75 day response period:

• Initial expressions of interest due at

the end of the first 45 day response

period; and

• Supplementary information due 30

days after submission of initial

expressions of interest.

Respondents are requested to provide

the following information in their initial

expressions of interest:

• The reactor(s) it may wish to sell,

lease, or offer for irradiation services.

• The reactor(s) age, location,

specifications, operating schedule

(including the anticipated refueling/

outage schedule) and capacity factor for

each year of operation.

Respondents are requested to provide

as much of the following supplementary

information as is feasible 30 days after

the due date for initial expressions of

interest:

• Proposed arrangements by which

DOE would use the reactor or reactors

to produce tritium, including a nonbinding price estimate (or estimated

range of prices), for each arrangement

contemplated by respondent, assuming

that DOE would begin tritium

production in 2005. Discuss important

variables that could affect the price or

other terms of the arrangements.

• Equity- and debt-structure of

owner(s)/co-owners, and approvals that

would be needed and requirements

(terms/conditions) that must be met

before the respondent can enter into an

agreement with DOE.

• Potential issues involving

decontamination and decommissioning,

or other technical or cost issues.

• Interest and issues concerning the

potential use of mixed oxide fuel from

surplus weapons plutonium.

• Nuclear Regulatory Commission

(NRC) license requirements, Securities

and Exchange Commission disclosure

requirements and requirements of other

federal, state or local regulatory

authorities.

• The complete operating history of

the reactor(s), and respondent’s

experience in operating the reactor(s).

• The NRC enforcement history with

respect to the reactor(s).

• Major maintenance actions taken in

the last 10 years and actions expected in

the next 15 years for the reactor(s) and

their actual or estimated costs, as

appropriate.

• Any other issues specifically related

to the particular reactor(s), fuel type or

assumptions, facility or services

identified in the response.

• Any additional information or other

requirements necessary for developing a

complete response to a future

solicitation by DOE for the use of

CLWRs to produce tritium, including

the potential use of mixed oxide fuel

from surplus weapons plutonium either

coincident with or separate from the

production of tritium.

III. Expressions of Interest Format

There is no minimum length for

expressions of interest. Maximum

aggregate length is fifty (50) pages for

both initial and supplementary

responses, including enclosures or

attachments. It is left to the respondent

to determine how best to use the fifty

(50) page maximum. It would, however,

facilitate review if initial and

supplementary expressions of interest

are divided into sections that

correspond to the categories of

information identified in Section II.,

above.
64106 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 239 / Wednesday, December 13, 1995 / Notices

Proprietary Information

If the initial or supplementary

expression of interest contains

information that is privileged or

confidential and which the respondent

does not want disclosed to the public,

the respondent should place the

following notice on the expression of

interest:

The information contained in pages lll

of this Expression of Interest has been

submitted in confidence and contains trade

secrets or commercial or financial

information that is confidential or privileged,

and such information should be used or

disclosed by the Government or its

contractors, only for purposes of

consideration of this Expression of Interest.

This restriction does not limit the

Government’s right to use or disclose other

information obtained without proprietary

restrictions from any source, including other

information provided by the respondent.

Submission

Each submittal should consist of one

original and five (5) photocopies. DOE

is under no obligation to pay for any

costs associated with the preparation or

submission of expressions of interest in

response to this Notice. DOE reserves

the right to respond, or not respond to

all or any portion of any expression of

interest submitted in response to this

Notice. DOE intends to conduct a public

meeting regarding this notice 30 days

from the date of its publication.

Following receipt of initial or

supplementary responses, DOE may also

conduct one or more scoping meetings

with all respondents to disseminate

additional information on this effort,

and may also conduct meetings with

individual respondents for clarification

of their responses or to obtain additional

information.

Issued in Washington, D.C. on December 5,

1995.

Hazel R. O’Leary,

Secretary.

APPENDIX—PRELIMINARY

PROCUREMENT SCHEDULE

Activity Completion date

Receipt of Initial Responses.Jan. 19, 1996.

Receipt of Supplemental

Information.

Feb. 20, 1996.

Complete Review of EOIs . Mar. 15, 1996.

Issue Request for Proposals.Jun. 1, 1996.

Proposals Due Date .......... Sep. 1, 1996.

Evaluate Proposal’s and

Select Competitive

Range.

Dec. 1, 1996.

Conduct Discussions and

Request and Receive

Best and Final Offers.

Apr. 1, 1997.

Make Conditional Selection Jun. 1, 1997.

[FR Doc. 95–30237 Filed 12–12–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P