Bechtel, GEH team up on European decommissioning

Wednesday, 22 March 2017

USA-based firms Bechtel and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) have today announced the formation of an alliance to offer decommissioning and dismantling services for nuclear power plants in Germany and Sweden.

The alliance will provide a full range of decommissioning services including pre-shutdown planning, licensing, project development and management, dismantling, demolition, waste management and site closeout.

Wilmington, North Carolina-based GEH says it offers comprehensive decommissioning project expertise, including experience gained from reactor internals replacement projects in Japan and segmentation scope for extended power uprate reactor internals replacement projects in the USA.

Virginia, USA-headquartered engineering, project management and construction company Bechtel has more than 30 years of experience in clean-up, decommissioning, remediation and closure at more than 500 contaminated sites across the world, including US Department of Energy sites in five states and at the UK's Sellafield site.

GEH executive vice president of nuclear services Lance Hall said: "The alliance of GEH and Bechtel provides customers a complete offering of decommissioning services that draws upon the comprehensive experience, resources and project management expertise of both companies." He added, "As plants in Germany and Sweden shut down, this alliance will support customers through the end of the nuclear power plant lifecycle."

James Taylor, general manager of Bechtel's environmental business, said, "Bechtel has performed work from design to dismantlement for more than 150 nuclear plants over the last 60 years. This experience will be critical to delivering quality as Germany and Sweden move forward."

In January, GEH was awarded a three-year contract by Sweden's OKG AB to dismantle the reactor internals of units 1 and 2 at the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant. Under the contract, GEH will segment the reactor pressure vessel internals of both units. The work includes dismantling, cutting and packing the reactor internals for final disposal. The segmentation project is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2020.

Various decommissioning partnerships have been announced since Germany and Sweden introduced legislation for the early shutdown of their nuclear power reactors.

In 2015, EOn and Vattenfall signed an agreement to cooperate in the decommissioning and dismantling of their jointly owned nuclear power plants in Germany. The same year, Westinghouse and German construction company Hochtief AG teamed up to offer decommissioning, decontamination and remediation services for Germany's nuclear power plants.

In 2012, Sweden's Studsvik and Westinghouse launched a consortium known as NDCon to offer decommissioning services, initially focused on Germany and Sweden.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News