Swedish nuclear company Studsvik and US construction and engineering company Washington Group International (WGI) have formed a joint venture to process federal nuclear waste for the US Department of Energy (DoE).
The new company, Thor Treatment Technologies, will be owned by Studsvik subsidiary Studsvik Inc and WGI subsidiary Westinghouse Government and Environmental Services. Studsvik is contributing a licence to Thor in order to use its Thor process, a thermal method of treating organic waste to stabilise it for final disposal, and will receive 50% of the share in the company. Westinghouse Government and Environmental Services will provide the necessary working capital in return for the other 50%.
Studsvik estimates that the total costs of the DoE's Environmental Management Programme are $150-300 billion over a period of 20-30 years.
