Eagle Rock contract for URS

14 February 2011

UPDATED - This story has been updated to reflect the NRC's issuance of the final environmental impact statement for the Eagle Rock plant.

 

URS Corporation has been awarded a contract by Areva to provide procurement, construction and management services for the planned Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility in Idaho. 

 

Eagle Rock (Areva)
How Eagle Rock could look (Image: Areva)
URS - a provider of engineering, construction and technical services - said that under the terms of the contract, signed with Areva Enrichment Services LLC, it will perform its work in two phases. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

 

During the initial phase, the company will provide construction and procurement planning services. In the second phase - which will only begin once Areva has received its combined construction and operating licence (COL) for the facility, together with other necessary approvals - URS will provide a full range of procurement, construction and management services.

 

A COL application is currently with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) which Areva hopes will allow it to begin construction later this year. AES submitted its licence application for the plant at the end of 2008. However, in March 2009 the company informed the NRC that it intended to revise the application to double the capacity of the plant from the originally planned 3.3 million SWU (separative work units, the unit of measurement for uranium enrichment) to 6.6 million SWU per year.

 

On 14 February 2011, the NRC announced that it had found "no significant environmental impacts that would preclude licensing" the Eagle Rock facility. In its final environmental impact statement, the regulator said that "environmental impacts from the facility would be generally small, and recommended issuing the licence." Sam Shakir, president and CEO of Areva Enrichment Services, commented: "With the NRC final environmental impact statement, Areva's Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility continues its steady march forward toward regulatory approval." He added, "Based on current progress, we remain confident we can receive licence approval for this facility this year."

 

The Eagle Rock uranium enrichment facility is expected to begin operating in 2014 and to be fully constructed by 2017. The plant will be similar to a new Areva's Georges Besse II facility at Tricastin, France, which is based on centrifuge technology licensed from Urenco.

 

In May 2010, Areva was awarded a conditional offer of a loan guarantee for $2 billion. The loan guarantee supports a large part of the total cost of the project and should help Areva raise private capital. The Department of Energy put the cost of Eagle Rock at $3.3 billion.

 

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News