NNSA Domestic Uranium Enrichment Pilot Plant Study   2

Background
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has a requirement to establish a domestic uranium enrichment capability to produce enriched uranium suitable for defense purposes. The DUE Program's mission is to ensure a reliable supply of enriched uranium for national security missions, including low-enriched uranium (LEU) to support tritium production and highly enriched uranium (HEU) to fuel naval nuclear propulsion. The United States Government currently lacks the ability to enrich uranium to support defense missions, and the DUE Program is working to establish a new capability in time to meet national security needs. The program has funded the research and development of small centrifuge technology under the Domestic Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Experiment (DUECE) project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), planning to demonstrate the DUECE technology in an engineering-scale cascade testbed at a facility located on their campus in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Prior to deployment in a production facility, NNSA requires that the DUECE technology be tested in a pilot plant to demonstrate centrifuge reliability, production-scale cascade operations, production-rate centrifuge manufacturing, and other supporting systems to mature the DUECE technology for production and manufacturing implementation. The DUE Program strategy seeks to ensure future national security production capability by leveraging the pilot plant for future HEU production use and partnering with commercial industry where appropriate.

Work Details
The objective of this contract is to complete an engineering options study for the deployment of the Domestic Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Experiment (DUECE) centrifuge in a pilot plant. The study will involve demonstrating technical maturity of the DUECE centrifuge and transitioning it to enrichment of highly enriched uranium (HEU) for naval propulsion. The study will also include testing the DUECE technology in an engineering-scale cascade testbed at a facility located on ORNL's campus in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The study aims to demonstrate centrifuge reliability, production-scale cascade operations, production-rate centrifuge manufacturing, and other supporting systems necessary for maturing the DUECE technology for production and manufacturing implementation.

Period of Performance
The contract shall commence performance once awarded and continue for one year after contract award.

Place of Performance
The services specified by this contract shall be performed at the contractor’s facility and remotely.