Solicitation - Single Award IDIQ for Nuclear Consulting Services   3

Background
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) owns and operates a heavy water-moderated nuclear test reactor and associated neutron beam research facility. The NCNR’s reactor is licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) under the name National Bureau of Standards Reactor (NBSR). On February 3, 2021, The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of an alert concerning elevated radiation levels at the NIST Reactor. Pursuant to the event notification received from NCNR staff on February 3, 2021, the NRC initiated a special inspection at the NCNR.
On April 14, 2021, the NRC staff issued an interim special inspection report to provide an initial assessment of their understanding of the event sequence, consequences, and the NCNR’s response to the event. On March 16, 2022, the NRC released a final report of its initial conclusion from its special inspection report. The final report confirms and expands on many aspects of NIST’s analysis of the incident, pointing to deficiencies in policies, procedures, training and safety culture as contributing to the incident. In addition to the NRC special inspection, NIST conducted an internal root cause analysis and invited four outside experts to review the NIST analyses and planned corrective actions, as well as the organizational response to the February 2021 event.

Work Details
The primary objective is to provide NCNR with access to independent nuclear consultant(s) to conduct comprehensive independent third-party assessments of Program Areas including Nuclear Safety Culture. The assessment will be used to identify areas for improvement and corrective actions, gauge the rigor, criticality, and overall quality of NCNR’s internal self-assessment activities in this performance area.