Canada’s SNC-Lavalin announced that its Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings Corporation, in a joint venture (JV) partnership with Westinghouse Government Services and Fluor Federal Services, had been awarded a 14-month extension to continue operating the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion facilities at the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky and the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio.
"The nuclear space is one of SNC-Lavalin's core businesses. We see this is an opportunity in the US to drive growth within the sector by expanding our market position in nuclear waste management," said Ian L Edwards, President and CEO of SNC-Lavalin.
The Atkins-led JV will continue services to support the DUF6 Project, valued at $153.5 million, which processes the US DOE inventory of depleted uranium hexafluoride to uranium oxides for disposition. The partners will manage and operate the two uranium conversion facilities and manage the DUF6 inventory of over 60,000 cylinders (hazard category 3 and 2 designation, respectively). The project processes the DUF6 inventory via established uranium conversion technologies to the oxide form.
"The nuclear chemical production operations involved at these plants transforms this waste into a merchant chemical product and build upon the skills of our member companies," said Tom Jouvanis, President, Atkins Nuclear Secured.
Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings Corporation is a business unit within SNC-Lavalin's global nuclear sector focused on the US federal market. With strengths in nuclear operations, process design engineering, waste management, characterisation, transportation, disposition and high-level waste technologies, Nuclear Secured is a partner in the team managing the Tank Operations contract and the Central Plateau Clean-up Company at Hanford, leads the teams managing the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories in Ontario, and manages the U-233 project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Atkins Nuclear Secured, safely delivers high consequence, technically complex missions for federal governments.