French waste management company Veolia plans to acquire Ohio-based Wastren Advantage in a move that would further boost the Paris-based company’s reach into the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup market.
“I can confirm we are in the process of being acquired by Veolia subject to the necessary approvals from DOE for our mitigated entity,” Wastren Chief Executive Steve Moore told Weapons Complex Monitor on Wednesday. “I can also say that we are pleased to be part of the Veolia family, and are looking forward to how this new entity can serve DOE and other clients in the future.”
Moore would not discuss the terms of the pending acquisition. A Veolia spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.
Wastren, a well-respected player working across the DOE weapons complex, is the current prime analysis contractor for the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site near Richland, Wash. There, Wastren tests and analyzes liquid radioactive waste from Hanford’s tank farms to ensure the material can be safely stored underground and, eventually, safely mixed with glass for ease of storage. The company’s current Laboratory Analysis and Testing Services contract is worth roughly $45 million and runs through Sept. 20, 2020, including options.
Wastren was also the prime contractor on the Transuranic Waste Processing Center at DOE’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee before North Wind Solutions took over in 2015. But Wasten remains a subcontractor to the current prime.
Veolia has made no secret of its ambitions to expand into the U.S. nuclear cleanup market. Last year, the company paid $350 million to acquire nuclear waste cleanup technology firm Kurion of Palo Alto, Calif. Kurion earlier this year was placed with two other companies under Veolia’s Nuclear Solutions umbrella.
Veolia has also moved aggressively to enhance its nuclear-industry networking abilities, in 2016 hiring Billy Morrison away from Atkins to lead the French corporation’s federal services group. The personnel poaching continued earlier this year, when marketing and business-development man David Campbell jumped ship to Veolia from Bechtel.
By 2020, Veolia intends to produce $250 million in annual revenue from low-level radioactive waste treatment and roughly $150 million annually in nuclear technology decontamination.