ML20138A396
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. FINDINGSANDDETERMINATIONk s . .
Under Section 302(c)(10) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as Amended Findings In accordance with the requirements of urt 1-3 of the Federal Procurement Regulations, I make the following findings:
- 1. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) proposes to enter into a sole-source contract with Battelle Columbus Laboratories (BCL), for a one year performance period, in the amount of $200,000, for a research project that will quantify through experimentation, the source term likely to result from sabotage of spent fuel shipments from gas-cooled
' power reactors (HTGRs) and non-power reactors (NPRs). Specifically, the contract effort will require BCL to use experimental procedures previously developed for power reactor spent fuel to determine analytically the arrount and the physical and chemical form associated with any material release from sabotage of gas-cooled and non-power reactor spent fuel during transport; obtain or prepare surrogate spent fuel and perform cold and/or hot tests to assess the determination made analytically, and finally, determine the amount and form of the potential radiological release that would result from sabotage of HTGR spent fuel; compile information on spent fuel from the four major types of non-power reactors (AGN, TRIGA, pool and tank) and determine which type of fuels should be tested to obtain quantitative data on the potential hazard to the public of an act of sabotage on such spent fuel while it is in transit; compare these results with the results of HTGR and LWR spent fuel to establish the need and perforr... if necessary, an experimental program for, non-power reactors.
As an option provision, BCL may be required, to prepare borosilicate glass samples which simulate vitrified high level waste and perfonn the same tasks as described above using representative samples of high level waste.
- 2. BCL recently completed two studies under Contract No. NRC-04-76-293-10 and NRC-04-80-180 at a total cost of $1,100,000 that resulted in a source term characterization for explosive sabotage of power reactor spent fuel casks during transport. The studies, which were done for the benefit of the Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards (NMSS), provided a technical basis for a proposed rulemaking on protection requirements for spent fuel shipments. This is a major rulemaking action, requiring a strong technical basis. NMSS plans to specifically address each type of spent fuel shipment and will need the information from the proposed new work to respond to public comment. The proposed rule is scheduled for publication by January 1984, with a 90 day public coment period. This makes the timeliness of the availability of results from the proposed experiments an important factor. The Comission desires that work be started imediately so as to have an interim report available on or before July 1,1984 to respond to public coment and allow for orderly incorporation of results into the final publication of the rule, approximately one year later. This proposed effort will use the expertise and experimen-tal design previously developed by BCL for power reactor spent fuel ship-ment sabotage to quantify the source term likely to result from a sabotage of gas-cooled and non-power reactor spent fuel shipments.
This expertise is essential to the successful performance of this effort.
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O C In order to acquire the needed data, the NMSS staff has identified Battelle Columbus Laboratories (BCL) as the sole contractor that can perform this work within the required time frame since it is the only organization readily available that has the necessary equipment, expertise, and experimental design work already in place. Of primary importance to the successful performance of the proposed effort and currently in place at BCL, and owned by NRC, is a detonation sphere originally obtained from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for use under NRC Contracts NRC-04-76-293-10 and NRC-04-80-180, which contains the blast and a sampling chamber that confines and allows measurement of the radioactive material. Any other organization to whom an award was made would have to either move the LANL detonation sphere or obtain a similar one elsewhere and arrange to have it moved which is a time consuming process.
More importantly, BCL designed and built the sampling chamber specifically for the experiments for power reactor spent fuel sabotage. The process of designing and building the sampling chamber, redesigning it to meet the ASME code, and obtaining certification that it had met the code took approximately eight months. If another organization had to duplicate the NRC sampling chamber, this process would have to be repeated until it met the appropriate code (s). If the sampling chamber were to be moved to another organization's site, it would have to be transported as a radio-active shipment, since it is contaminated with radioactive materials from the power reactor spent fuel sabotage experiments. This would require certification of the packaging by the NRC, which is a time consuming process of approximately six months. With time being such an important factor in the support of a major rulemaking activity, this duplication process is rot practicable.
Finally, BCL has, unlike other organizations, its own " Hot Cell" or explosive laboratory which is crucial to this project since experiments using explosives will be conducted to determine the results of possible sabotage of spent fuel during transport.
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Determination
- 1. Based on the foregoing findings, I hereby determine within the meaning of Section 302(c)(10) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended that:
- a. It is neither feasible or practicable to undertake the whole of the requirement described in-house.
- b. Negotiation on a sole-source basis with BCL for performance of this work is justified because (1) it is imperative that the staff receive an interim report covering this effort by July 1,1984 and only BCL can meet this deadline. If a new contractor could be obtained through the competitive procurenent process, it would not be able to complete this project within the required time frame, (2) one of the primary reasons BCL can meet the very stringent interim report due date is that it developed the Agency's source term characterization for sabotage of spent fuel casks during transport and has the facilities, equipment, and personnel who performed that effort readily available to perform this effort.
BCL designed the experimental set-up and the samplino chamber to determine the source term, (3) it owns the experimental Explosive Laboratory (Hot Cell) which will be needed for the duration of this project to simulate possible sabotage of spent fuel during transport,
- 2. Upon the basis of these findings and determination, I hereby authorize the negotiation of a contract on a sole source basis with BCL for the procurement of the work described herein pursuant to Section 302(c)(10) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended. ,
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Date / ., K' ogg V. Morton /
ontracting Officer As required by paragraph 1-3101(d) of the Federal Procurement Regulations, I have reviewed and ,'(-) approved ( ) disapproved the above described non-competitive procurement.
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Date / ..
"'f( Edward'L.
Division of Halman, Director Contracts
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,. CERTIFICATE OF CURRENT COST OR PRICING DATA t
This is to certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, coat or pricing data l submitted in writing, or specifically identified in writing if actual submission of the data is impracticable (seeil-3.807-3 (h) (2) ) , to the Contracting Officer or his representative in support Battelle-Columbus Proposal 2 of Numher ER7.J.8271 are Accurate, Complete, and Current
.co og- January 13, 1984- 3 (date)
BATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE FIRM Columbus Laboratories NAME 4 /
M. Michael Sewell 4
January 13. 1984 TITLE Contractino Officer (Date of execution)
(34 F.R. 2661, Feb. 27, 1969) ,
For definition of " cost or pricing data", see FPRj 1-3.807.3.
Describe the proposal, quotation, request for price adjustm'ents, or other submission involved, giving appropriate identifying number (e.g., RFP No. RFP No. RS-RES-84-113 ),
3 This date shall be the date when the price negotiations were con-cluded and the contract price was agreed to. The responsibility of the contractor is not limited by the personal knowledge of the contractor's nagotiator if the contractor had information reasonably available (see il-3.807-5(a)) at the time of agreement, showing that the negotiated price is not based on accurate, complete, and current data.
4 This date should be as close as practicabin to the date when the j price negotiations were concluded and the contract price was agreed upon.
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