Bechtel, Westinghouse Team Up on Commercial Decommissioning

Bechtel and Westinghouse Electric Company have entered into a multi-year partnership agreement to provide decontamination and decommissioning services for commercial nuclear power plants, the two companies announced yesterday. The partnership will cover a range of services, including: pre-shutdown planning, licensing, project development and management, dismantling, demolition, waste handling, and site closeout—with a central focus on the safe and efficient handling of radioactive materials, the companies said. “Customers can trust that Bechtel and Westinghouse will provide integrated services and solutions to safely decommission, decontaminate, and dismantle a power plant, and prepare the site for other uses,” Michael Graham, general manager of Bechtel’s global environmental business, said in a statement. “In the United States, the average age of commercial reactors is some 33 years, and many are approaching the end of their licensing periods. Together, these two companies have the resources, experience, and expertise to deliver the safest and cleanest decommissioning projects.”

 

While a host of power plants are expected to shutdown in the coming decades, it would appear that the two companies are hoping to initially leverage their skills to pursue the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) decommissioning contract, estimated at a price tag of approximately $4.4 billion, according to Southern California Edison’s Decommissioning cost estimate. Both companies replied to SCE’s intitial Request for Information about managing the cleanup project.