Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:PESI) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Mark Duff: Sure, Ross. Yes. The EPA program for being randomized, it’s been a while since I have looked at that information. But I want to say there is like 180 abandoned uranium mines that are within this program. It received a good slug of funding about 5 years ago when these IDIQ bids came out. We were awarded that €“ awarded a contract with our prime who is a Native American firm and local to the area in the Navajo region there in the Northeast, Arizona. And this is the first one. So, there is a contract that we have hired across, I believe it’s Tetra Tech that their job and has been highly funded and most of the funding has been, I think if anything, they actually spend all their funding, where they are going around doing the characterization and surveying and developing the scope for each one of those mines.

As I mentioned before, I believe we have 12 or 18 done. And next step after Tetra does that as they turn over the information to the EPA, EPA puts together procurement between these three bidders, these three awardees and they go. So, we won the first one of those. And they are very remote locations, some more remote than others. And they will be off and running, hopefully start making awards subsequent to the first one through the summer. Some are very large, some are smaller. This is a smaller one. And €“ but we are hopeful that once we could go in, our systems will be in place and they can keep operating and once they are in the field, because mobilization is so expensive on these types of things. So, it’s very difficult to tell you what type of funding this year looks like because they have had funding for years and years, and it’s all been stifled because of procurement.

I don’t know if procurement is going to get things rolling this year or not, if it’s going to be next year. But the projects remain. The objectives remain. There is a lot of politics behind them, and they seem to be off and running. Like I said, our kickoff meeting for the first one, is with EPA is actually next week. So, we will have more information on that by the next earnings call. As far as the Navy goes, the Navy is, boy, it really got stifled too. We reported a couple of years ago on this call that the GAO and may put a report together, they are going to decommissioned 48 ships, I think 12 of those are going to be nuclear, and they are all going to be done in 4 years. When nothing has happened in about 18 months to 2 years until about the first week and second week in March, that Industry Day, the Navy Day, excuse me, in the Navy headquarters in D.C., and went over the plans for the enterprise to be the next vessel they are going to decommission.

We are expecting an RFP, I believe it’s this summer, and that will be the next one coming. So, teams are forming on that. We are working with a company, several companies to define the right team based on the fact that we have got some good project calls from the ship we are doing now. It’s going very well, and we are hopeful to get on the winning team for that. I would anticipate it to be quite well that’s awarded probably a year or so. And then I think the Navy will be off and running with that business model. I know the Nimitz aircraft carriers also close behind the enterprise and there are a few others that names skip me at the moment that will be on the list as well. So, we are hoping with this enterprise initiative that it will be kind of the beginning of this market getting rolling and hopefully we can get on the right team.

Ross Taylor: And right now, these vessels are just sitting idle?

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