Alliance offers one-stop decommissioning
06 January 2015
Bechtel and Westinghouse have launched a partnership to provide tailored decontamination, decommissioning and remediation (DD&R) services to US nuclear power plants.
The companies claim over 100 years of global nuclear experience between them. The initiative aims to leverage that experience to provide a comprehensive range of services including pre-shutdown planning, characterization, decontamination, licensing, project development and management, dismantling, demolition, waste handling and site close-out.
According to Westinghouse, the alliance will approach nuclear plant DD&R through a strategic, management-of-actions, resources and technology, or SMART, method. The central focus will be on the safe, efficient handling of highly radioactive materials to provide the lowest cost and lowest risk solutions for each plant, with the end goal of maintaining a positive environmental impact.
Bechtel's global environmental business manager Michael Graham pointed to the potential market for the alliance's services. "In the United States, the average age of commercial reactors is some 33 years, and many are approaching the end of their licensing periods. Together, these two companies have the resources, experience, and expertise to deliver the safest and cleanest decommissioning projects," he said.
Westinghouse senior vice president Nick Liparulo said the alliance had both the skills and the longevity to tackle such projects. "This is an example of how we support the safe and environmentally friendly life cycle of power plants in their entirety", he said.
Westinghouse technology is the basis for nearly half of the world's operating commercial nuclear power plants, while Bechtel has provided to the US nuclear civil, naval and defence sectors for over 60 years, including extensive experience in environmental cleanup, decommissioning and remediation at facilities including the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge reservation, the Idaho National Laboratory and Sellafield in the UK.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News