Energy Department Issues EOI for Volumetric Contaminated Nickel Technology

PADUCAH, Ky. – The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Portsmouth Paducah Project Office has issued an Expression of Interest (EOI) seeking input from industry on operationally mature technologies capable of supporting the potential reuse of approximately 9,700 tons of volumetrically contaminated nickel stored at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Paducah, Kentucky. 

DOE will use the information gathered from this EOI to evaluate whether it is in the Department’s best interest to have industry selectively extract the nickel from the ingots to produce a high-purity nickel product suitable for release into commerce in accordance with DOE’s criteria for unrestricted release of materials. (DOE Order 458.1). 

Responses gathered as part of this EOI may also be used in the future to develop an acquisition strategy for commercial-scale processing of a nickel extraction technology. This effort could support broader national energy priorities, including grid-scale batteries, the nuclear power industry, and artificial intelligence initiatives, contingent upon: 

• Successful technical validation of the proposed process (including verification testing)
• Completion of an economic assessment, by DOE, of the proposed approach demonstrating, if appropriate, the overall advantages of the initiative
• The development of an acceptable regulatory approval and environmental impact evaluation approach

Interested parties can find submittal information at Sam.gov or by contacting Jennifer Stokes, DOE contracting officer, at EOI@pppo.gov.