Two informed industry sources said Monday that multinational waste management company Veolia has completed its purchase of Piketon, Ohio-based Wastren Advantage for an undisclosed sum.
The sources said the deal closed on Jan. 16 following approval of the U.S. Department of Energy’s foreign-owned, control or influence (FOCI) analysis.
News of the pending deal was first reported last August. No Veolia officials were willing to speak on the record Monday.
Veolia is reportedly retiring the Wastren Advantage name. The former Wastren and other Veolia Nuclear Solutions operations currently doing business in the U.S. government marketplace will be housed within a new U.S. umbrella affiliate called VNS Federal Services LLC.
Veolia Nuclear Solutions consolidates its parent company’s nuclear businesses. Billy Morrison, Nuclear Solutions head of North America operations, will add the title of CEO of VNS Federal Services, according to the Veolia website. Wastren Advantage CEO Steve Moore will remain on as chief operating officer of VNS Federal Services, and report to Morrison.
VNS Federal Services will have two main offices: one in Richland and another in Piketon. Wastren now works at several Department of Energy sites, including managing sampling and analytical services at the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site near Richland. The company also provides technology and cybersecurity services at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant cleanup in Kentucky and has been a prime contractor or subcontractor, performing a variety of services for years, at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio, according to the Wastren website.
Veolia saw Wastren Advantage as a “good project management company” with a “good footprint” in the federal cleanup business, a source said Monday. Veolia is aggressively getting into the market for U.S. government cleanup and remediation services, both sources noted.
Paris-based Veolia is a $30 billion company involved in water, waste management, transport and energy services.
