SRS RFP Questions and Answers (Cleared Rev 1).pdf

AI and Energy Infrastructure FAQ (Revision 1) Revisions are shown in Blue Font

General Questions about SRS and the RFP Requirements Question Answer 1 When submitting proposals configured as described in Section 3.4 (b) of the RFP, can the data center consortium apply separately from the energy generation consortium's application if they reference one another's applications?

A data center consortium may apply separately from the energy generation consortium’s proposal, however as stated in the RFP proposals for data centers that do not include power generation will not be considered. Therefore, if the data center consortium submits a proposal separately from the energy consortium, there must be a clear linkage between the two proposals that includes a timeline for integrating the two facilities. Further, if the data center proposal is acceptable, but the energy proposal is not acceptable, then prior to leasing negotiations, the data center consortium must make arrangements with offerors of an acceptable energy generation proposal.

2 To conduct preliminary project modelling, is SRS able to provide indicative, non-binding ranges of $/acre land lease fees?

Given the NNSA's strategic objectives for AI and Energy infrastructure on the Savannah River Site, and the unique nature of leasing federal land, a proposed lease rate for each of the three project development phases (Development, Construction, and Operations) needs to be carefully structured and reflect the changing value proposition and risk profile during each phase, while ultimately aligning with the DOE/NNSA's overarching goals.

As stated in Section 4.4.3 (a) of the RFP, “The proposed consideration will address the objectives set forth in Section 1.0.i and will be primarily in the form of cash consideration… The proposed consideration must be substantiated with relevant empirical and quantitative data and analysis…”

Offerors must assess the situation and determine for themselves what they consider fair consideration based on their own analysis. Prior to entering into the lease agreement, the lessee will be responsible for funding an appraisal to determine the Fair Market Value.

3 Will bonds or securities need to be posted beyond a decommissioning bond?

No

4 The RFP states that a decommissioning bond "in amounts and subject to conditions deemed acceptable to the Government" must be delivered. Are there any criteria for what amounts to an "acceptable" amount pre-construction?

The amount of the decommissioning bond must be sufficient to cover the cost of removing the proposed improvements to the leased premises and restoring the site as required in the RFP and subsequent lease agreement. The amount will vary based on the improvements proposed.

5 Does the statement on page 38 regarding the SCDES permitted withdrawal of 302,220,000 gallons per year mean that projects could withdraw up to 302,220,000,000 gallons per year?

No, this information has been determined to be incorrect. Currently, SRS has surface water withdrawal permit, South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (SCDES) Permit #02IN010, that allows each of the two onsite pumphouses at the Savannah River to withdraw 10,950 million Gallons per Month (MGM) which equates to approximately 250,000 Gallons per Minute (GPM), i.e. a total of 500,000 GPM for both pumphouses combined. In addition, the permit allows withdrawal from a third geographic location in the amount of 3,285 MGM (~75,000 GPM). The pumphouse at this third location no longer exists. The permit defines withdrawal locations using geographic coordinates and not specific buildings or pumping facilities, therefore even though no pumping facility currently exists at the third location, a new facility at that location should be able to withdraw the permitted amount of water, however, this should be confirmed with the SCDES contact identified in the RFP listing on SAM.gov.

Additionally, the active withdrawal permit was designed for a once-through cooling system that would return 95% of the withdrawn water to the Savannah River across three geographic locations indicated by their global coordinates. The return information in the existing permit is specified for “informational use only”, “by the permittee”. It is highly recommended that any offeror desiring to leverage the existing permit engage the SCDES representative to discuss the specifics of the proposed cooling system.

SRS currently withdraws approximately 7,500 GPM from the one in-service pumphouse designated as Building 681-3G. The second pumphouse, 681-1G, is currently in a state of disrepair and would need refurbishment to withdraw water. However, the withdrawal permit is valid for both pumphouses even though one is not currently in service. The existing permit does not expire until December 1, 2043.

The currently operational portion of the SRS river water system has been derated due to the age of the four 32,000 GPM pumps and these four pumps along with the two primary in-service 7,500 GPM pumps can deliver a total of approximately 115,000 GPM. With refurbishment of existing facilities by the offeror, the amount of available cooling water could be dramatically increased.

6 Can the existing river water intake structure support a new large water pipeline that is routed directly to our nuclear facility?

The answer would depend on the specific requirements of the new pipeline and the route that it would need to take from the pumphouse or existing river water infrastructure to the nuclear facility. A proposal would need to provide sufficient information to allow for site engineering to assess the feasibility.

7 Does the lease allow for an EPZ beyond the selected site boundaries?

The entire Savannah River Site is from a practical viewpoint an Emergency Planning Zone and the new facility would be integrated into site emergency response plans as required by law and in accordance with best practices.

8 Can we close, move, alter and/or remove sections of roads that bisect sites? for example: site 4 - Dunbarton Blvd & Unnamed Roads, Site 2 - Burma Road, Site 5 - Unnamed Road, Site 10 - Unnamed Road

In most cases, unimproved or natural surface roads could be removed. In situations where the unimproved road was required for access, for example to reach a ground water monitoring well, the road could be removed if access to the feature could be maintained with different route. Some sections of Dunbarton and Burma Roads must remain open, however, if alternate routes are available then it could be possible to close these roads within the boundaries for the proposed sites.

Section 2.1(f) describes the SRS site use permitting system used to evaluate the impact of requested changes such as closing a road. Once the developer proposes a specific action, then the site use permitting system will be used to determine whether and if so how, the action can be implemented. The goal of the system not “gatekeeping” but rather to determine what conditions must be met to allow an action to go forward.

9 How detailed does the interconnection information to be regarding specific upgrades, exact points of interconnect, and

Offerors should discuss as much detail as is available. NNSA understands that applications for interconnection are unlikely to have been submitted when proposals are due. It is recommended that offerors meet with Dominion Energy and provide a available transmission capacity? Or will a plan to secure interconnection suffice?

summary of those discussions in their proposal. The basic process for applying for interconnection and the Dominion Energy process can be found at https://www.oasis.oati.com/sceg/ under the menu heading “Generator Interconnection Information”.

10 If we need space outside of our leased area for construction staging or laydown, is there land available within the Savannah River Site that can be utilized separately through a temporary workspace agreement?

Yes

11 How does SRS plan to allocate firm water supply amongst the tenants?

Based on the requirements of each tenant, SRS will determine whether the current infrastructure can support all tenants. If the current infrastructure can support all tenants without modification, then each tenant will receive the amount of water requested. In this case the cost of the water to each tenant will be equal to their share of the operations and maintenance cost of water system. The rate will be determined by dividing the total operations and maintenance cost by the total water consumption of all users of the system to establish a rate per gallon of water used. Each tenant will then be charged monthly the established rate for the number of gallons used. The rate will be established annually based on the estimated operations and maintenance cost. At the end of the year, the actual cost for maintenance and operations will be determined for the year and the amount charged to each tenant adjusted up or down to cover only the actual maintenance and operations cost.

If it is determined that the current infrastructure must be upgraded to support the demand of a new tenant or a significant change in the demand from an existing tenant, the tenants whose demand is creating the need for system upgrades will bear the entire cost of the system upgrades in addition to their share of the normal operations and maintenance cost. Once the system upgrades are complete all tenants will share the normal operations and maintenance cost as described above.

12 How are the river water pumps powered and what is the reliability of the power source?

The river water pumps are driven by electric motors with electricity provided by a substation just outside the pumphouse building. The original transformers and switch gear are currently being replaced with new equipment and the substation is fed by the SRS power grid. The SRS power grid is connected to the Dominion Energy grid by three independent lines with each line capable of supplying power to the entire site. One of the three lines is also connected to the Georgia Power grid via a connection between Plant Vogtle and a Dominion Energy owned switching station located onsite at SRS.

With the new equipment being installed in the DESC switchyard and new 4160V switchgear, electrical reliability is high. The switchgear is sized to supply current demands including the multiple large pump run needed to achieve adequate distribution system flush. A significant increase in demand would prompt an evaluation of electrical modifications potentially needed

13 How old are the river water pumps and what is the reliability record for them and the underground piping?

Pumps #4 and #10 have been rebuilt/replaced within the last two years. Larger pumps #1, 3, 5, and 7, have not been rebuilt or replaced recently, due to these pumps only being used as backup/emergency use pumps. While these large pumps are not operated often, they have provided water as designed when needed. Reliability record has been high for the pumps and underground piping based on historical data and River Water Health Reports.

14 Who would control the starting and stopping of the pumps?

If water from the one operable pumphouse is utilized, SRNS would operate the pumps. Processes would be established to coordinate the usage requirements among river water users.

https://www.oasis.oati.com/sceg/

A second pumphouse exists and is connected to the river water system but is currently in a state of disrepair. If an offeror desires to refurbish this facility to exclusively supply river water to their facility, then NNSA is willing to discuss how operation this facility might be managed by the offeror.

15 Are there taps in the River Water System? If not, who would be responsible for tapping the lines to access the water supply?

There are currently no “taps” in the River Water System. Responsibility would be on the end user for any taps needed.

16 Does the River Water System present any heavy haul route concerns? For example, would transporting up to 650 tons across the area where the river water line is buried be possible (especially at sites 6, 7 and 8 that are all inside the river water loop)?

There is a significant concern with extremely heavy loads, i.e., 650 tons, crossing the underground river water lines.

Engineering would have to perform an evaluation and civil loading calculations prior to authorizing.

17 Is your team available for a meeting to ask questions (knowing they will be made publicly available)?

The NNSA team will meet with offerors selected to proceed to negotiations. Questions prior to the deadline for submission of proposals received via email will be answered with addendums to the SAM.gov listing.

18 Is your team able to share .kmz/.kml files for the water loop onsite?

A .kml file of the water loop envelope layout will be posted on the SAM.gov website.

19 Will the planned solar projects at SRS mentioned on p. 37 of the RFP be connected to a utility?

Yes

20 Is there a preference to apply as a single consortium vs. 2 linked consortia?

See response to Question 1

21 What level of commitment is the decision-making team looking for in regard to offtake agreements?

See response to Question 9

22 Will the data centers that submit proposals to the RFP be required to purchase power from the new SMR onsite as its primary generation source? Financing SMRs requires having offtake in place, so not having this requirement significantly increases the risk profile around successfully developing the properties and fails to align interests between the government and the developers of the data centers and SMRs.

No

23 Will data centers be permitted to purchase interim power from the grid? Data centers will have a need for interim power during the construction of the SMRs. Allowing this would accelerate the development of the project.

Yes – Further, NNSA will entertain the development of onsite non-nuclear power generation (biomass, natural/landfill gas, etc.) that can be brought online quicker than the anticipated time required for nuclear with the expectation that deploying non-nuclear power generation will better coincide with the shorter time-to-market of data centers versus nuclear power generation, thus allowing data centers to come online more quickly.

24 Once awarded, will the data center developer and SMR deployment team be required to coordinate timelines to transition from grid power to onsite generation?

Yes, the RFP requires that data center programs include a power generation component, so coordination will be required.

However, the intent is to bring both the data center and the power generation online as quickly as possible. Given that the lead time for a new data center may be considerably shorter than the timeline for power generation, the NNSA does not want to delay data center startup by requiring that the data center cannot begin operations until the accompanying power generation facility is ready to begin commercial operations. Therefore, the proposal timeline should address the acquisition of power during the time after the data center is operational and before the power generation facility comes online.

25 We found a SMR Siting Study (attached) from the Cleanup 2 Clean Energy Initiative and would like to know (1) what SSMS stands for in "SSMS score" and (2) if you are able to share kmz files for the green dot locations identified as most likely to be suitable for an SMR.

SSMS is an acronym for Site Selection Modeling System. The study referenced is available on the RFP listing at SAM.gov.

The analysis consisted of establishment of a set of categorial criteria with weighting to describe factors that would be important to select an appropriate SMR site at SRS.

GIS data in the form of a .kmz or .kml file indicating the precise location of the green dots corresponding to the most favorable locations does not exist. The results of the SRNL siting study were a factor used in determining the location of the ten tracts of land presented in the RFP.

26 Will SRNL/SRS be able to host site tours either before or after the RFP is released?

No site tours will be conducted prior to the submission deadline for proposal. Offerors selected to continue to the negotiation process for the lease agreement will be allowed to tour their sites of interest.

27 Are any special security clearances necessary to work on the SRS?

A Government security clearance is not required to work onsite at the offeror’s facilities. Offerors may implement additional access requirements for their facilities that are aligned and coordinated with SRS safety, security and emergency management directives.

Anyone entering the site for a period of up to 10 days per year will be required to obtain a visitor badge. Anyone requiring site access for a period longer than 10 days will be required to obtain an Uncleared Personal Identification Verification (UPIV) badge and complete the General Employee Training (GET) course. Individuals with only a Visitor badge must be always escorted by another person with a minimum of a UPIV badge. Foreign nationals requesting access to the site must be cleared with additional processes and must be always escorted outside of the offeror’s facility. Access to certain areas of the site is prohibited to individuals without appropriate security clearance.

The UPIV badging process is designed to ensure that individuals requesting access to the site are who they say they are.

This process is different and less stringent than the process for obtaining security clearance. Typical reasons for denial of a

UPIV badge include but are not limited to certain felony convictions and outstanding arrest warrants. GET must be completed prior to receiving a UPIV badge and a refresher course is required annually. GET focuses on safety, security and emergency issues related to working at SRS.

Most of the ten available tracts are completely within the barricaded portion of SRS. Guards at the barricades will inspect the badges of individuals entering the site and all persons and vehicles are subject to search when either entering or leaving the SRS. Guards have policing authority and may issue citations, seize contraband or detain individuals violating laws and site policies or regulations.

Submission Formatting Questions A In 4.3 Submission of Responses, section b… is there a preference in font style? Arial or Times New Roman?

Either Arial or Times New Roman is acceptable

B In 4.3 Submission of Responses, section b… would it be permissible to have tables at either 10- or 8-point font, and graphic font to be size 8; while body text remains at standard 12-point font?

The font size used on graphics must be easily readable. No attempt will be made by evaluators to clarify text in graphics if the text is difficult to decipher.

C In 4.3 Submission of Responses, section b… would it permissible to use 11x17 paper and have it count as 2 pages?

Standard US Letter size paper, i.e., 8.5 x 11 inches, printed in portrait mode is the preferred for text. US Tabloid size paper, i.e., 11 x 17 inches, used to display a single graphic such as a layout drawing will be considered a single page if printed on one side and two pages if printed on both sides.

D In 4.3 Submission of Responses, section b, the instructions do not explicitly state inclusion of front matter to include a Table of

Inclusion of navigational material and other material to facilitate understanding such as a table of contents, acronym list, list of figures, glossary, index etc. is not required but is much appreciated and will not be counted against the page limit.

Contents, Acronym List, List of Figures and Tables. Should these front matter sections be included? and 2) If yes, would it be permissible to exempt them from the page count?

E In 4.4.4.b, for Appendix E, the instructions state “The Offeror may amend the format for the Appendix, Past Performance Reference Information Form, if the exact information, font and size, and page limitations are followed." When checked, the font is 10 points in this form. Please confirm we can use 10-point font for the past performance forms.

A font size of 10 pt is acceptable on the Past Performance Reference forms included in Appendix E. Offerors are encouraged to use the Microsoft Word version of Appendix E provided on SAM.gov.

F In 4.4.4.b, for Appendix E, the instructions state “The Offeror may amend the format for the Appendix, Past Performance Reference Information Form, if the exact information, font and size, and page limitations are followed." Are we permitted to remove the instructions in the italics at the top and bottom of the form?

Yes, the form instructions shown in italics may be removed. Offerors are encouraged to use the Microsoft Word version of Appendix E provided on SAM.gov.