A joint venture led by an AtkinsRéalis Group company has received notice to proceed from the Department of Energy to start transition to running the uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion plants at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky.
The Operations & Site Mission Support Contract, potentially worth up to $2.3 billion over a decade, was awarded last year to Mission Conversion Services Alliance, Atkins announced the transition Thursday morning in a press release.
The joint venture is made up of AtkinsRéalis, Westinghouse Government Services and Amentum along with subcontractor teaming partners Swift & Staley Inc. and Akima Centerra Integrated Services,
An Atkins-led group, Mid-America Conversion Services, is the incumbent provider of DUF6 conversion work at Portsmouth and Paducah. That contract, which started in November 2016, is currently valued at more than $1 billion.
Dutch Conrad, the top Atkins supervisor for Mid-America, will also be running things for the new joint venture. Conrad posted a five-minute video on his LinkedIn page about the Mission Conversion Services Alliance plans and management team.
The Mid-American Conversion Services package was picked out of four proposals submitted, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said last year.
The contract also includes certain operational duties at the two former gaseous diffusion plant sites. This includes mission support such as fire department and emergency management services.
In July 2023, DOE awarded an environmental prime contract at Portsmouth to Amentum-led Southern Ohio Cleanup Co. But DOE held off on starting Southern Ohio’s transition to replace Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth until the DUF6/operations contract was awarded. Transition to Southern Ohio Cleanup started this month.
The Mission Conversion Services Alliance transition period is scheduled to last 120 days. As a result,the changeover from Mid-America to the new group would occur in early October.
“AtkinsRéalis unique end-to-end capabilities in nuclear engineering, design, project management, operations and disposition within this highly regulated industry enable our team to provide unrivalled services for our most trusted clients,” said Joe St Julian, President, Nuclear, AtkinsRéalis.
“With decades of experience tackling some of the most challenging and complex cleanups and projects in our industry, we have earned recognition for our expertise and our solutions,” said Jeff Kendall, President, AtkinsRéalis US Nuclear in the release.
