Engineering and Nuclear Safety Support to the Combined Radiation Environments for Survivability Testing Project at Sandia National Laboratories

Sigma Science was awarded a multi-year task order contract in May 2021 for the provision of engineering and nuclear safety support at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) including for the Combined Radiation Environments for Survivability Testing (CREST). The task order was issued under Sigma Science’s U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Supply Chain Management Center (SCMC) contract vehicle. To date, Sigma Science has received four multi-year task orders, a $5 million combined value. Sigma Science anticipates that that an additional 10 to 20 task orders will be issued under the contract.

Below is a summary of the services provided under the contract:

• Senior Nuclear Facility Systems Design Engineer: Sigma Science is providing nuclear facility system engineering support for pre-conceptual systems engineering design, management of interfaces between the individual design functions (i.e., reactor, accelerator, fuel stewardship, and CREST facility), refinement of the designs’ technical and functional requirements, modeling and calculation of estimated dose rates that may be expected within CREST’s preconceptual, layout design from reactor/accelerator only operations as well as combined operations. Sigma Science further supports collaboration with the CREST engineering team and potential architecture and engineering design firms.
• Senior Nuclear Fuels Engineering Support: Sigma Science provides engineering support for fuel stewardship activities at the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) and the CREST project. Engineering support includes market research to identify appropriate fuel element component vendors with adequate quality assurance programs or who can produce fuel element components under commercial grade dedication (CGD). Sigma Science also supports the development of cost estimates, estimated component fabrication schedules, and the development of prototype niobium cups for the CREST team’s inspection and approval. Sigma Science will ensure component quality and workmanship, providing nuclear fuels engineering and design expertise as needed. The Sigma team further ensures that design authority representatives perform reviews, as required, to support the project. Engineering support includes coordinating fabricability reviews with the SNL ACRR and CREST fuel stewardship teams.