Texas based WCS chosen to manage U.S. generated mercury

A five-year, $17.8 million contract has been awarded to Waste Control Specialists for the long-term management and storage of elemental mercury, the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management announced on November 21.

In a record of decision issued the same day as the contract announcement, the DOE designated WCS's waste management facility in Andrews County, Texas, as the site of a long-term management and storage facility for up to 7,000 metric tons of elemental mercury.

The need: According to DOE-EM, the establishment of a storage facility is an effort to meet the federal government's statutory responsibility for the long-term management and storage of elemental mercury generated within the United States, as required by the Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008.

The primary sources of U.S. elemental mercury include mercury generated as a byproduct of the gold mining process and mercury reclaimed from recycling and waste recovery activities. In addition, the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, in support of its mission, stores approximately 1,200 metric tons of elemental mercury at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The NNSA mercury, however, is currently designated as a commodity and not a waste.

The contract: Under the contract, WCS will provide the DOE with a lease-hold interest in the storage facility and will perform all technical, management, and administrative services necessary to ensure the safe and compliant long-term management and storage of elemental mercury waste from multiple domestic sources. A container storage building located at the WCS site will serve as the storage facility.

The contract with WCS is a hybrid firm-fixed price and indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity performance-based contract with the capability to issue firm-fixed price task orders.