RFI Letter.docx

James Yturralde Procurement Specialist

P.O. Box 500 Kirk Road and Pine Street Batavia, Illinois 60510-5011 USA jyturral@fnal.gov

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory RFI – Nevis Block Removal Project FESS Project No. 3-2-212

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) is America’s premier particle physics and accelerator laboratory that strives to solve the mysteries of matter, energy, space and time for the benefit for all. Located in Batavia, Illinois, it is managed by the Fermi Research Alliance LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

FNAL has approximately 205 Nevis Shielding Blocks (Nevis Blocks) that require disposal. Prior to waste disposal the materials must be characterized. The Nevis Blocks are steel cased, open-topped containers containing various metals such as lead (in various forms and sizes), zinc (in various forms and sizes) and potentially other metals all encased in concrete. The Nevis Blocks range in size, shape, and range in weight from 500 to 40,000 pounds. The average block is rectangular and weighs approximately 15, 000 pounds (volume of 2.1 cubic yards). As an example, some common block sizes measure 4’x4’x3’, 10’x’8’x1’, 6’x’5’x2’, etc. The Nevis Blocks are stored at a Railhead yard barn, stacked on top of each other and separated by plastic cribbing to allow forklifts to move the blocks (see attached photographs). A number of the Nevis Blocks exhibit concrete deterioration. Based on surface readings taken at the time of the last survey in 2008, 68 Nevis Blocks were considered to be radioactive.

The preferred method of disposal is to dispose of the blocks whole without breaking them or disassembling them into constituent components. It is assumed that some or all of the waste stream from the blocks will be characterized as mixed low-level waste.

FNAL is reaching out to industry seeking responses to several questions to better understand industry practices and capabilities. Your responses will help determine the appropriate scope of work and approach for disposing of the Nevis Blocks. FNAL would appreciate your responses to the following questions.

1. Is your company capable of hazardous and/or mixed waste characterization, packaging, and transportation to a final licensed disposal/treatment site? If not, which services would need to be performed by others?

2. If unable to perform the services noted in Question 1, how would you subcontract and manage the characterization, packaging, and transportation?

3. For planning purposes, how long would you estimate it will take to dispose of 205 shielding blocks, including characterization, packaging, transport, disposal facility acceptance?

4. Does the size of project (205 shielding blocks) pose any particular challenges to your company compared to projects of smaller or larger scopes?

5. In your company’s experience, would surface readings of the blocks be sufficient for characterization efforts or would a more invasive sampling and analysis program be required? If a more invasive sampling plan is required, what would that include?

6. Please provide any additional questions/comments/concerns regarding a project of this scope that FNAL should consider.

7. What, if any, Fermilab resources do you anticipate needing to complete this project?

8. Can you provide documentation, results, etc. for a similar project completed by your company?

Provide Responses by March 1, 2022 to James Yturralde at jyturral@fnal.gov.

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