French waste and water management provider Veolia announced Monday that its Nuclear Solutions branch has secured a contract to treat water contaminated with radioactive materials at four U.K. nuclear power plants being decommissioned by Magnox Ltd.
Veolia will design, construct, and deploy its Modular Active Effluent Treatment Plants (MAETPs) to remove radioactive material from effluent and pond water at the Chapelcross, Hinkley Point A, Oldbury, and Dungeness A sites, according to a company press release. Magnox personnel will operate the process, which ultimately will discharge the water into the sea via each site’s existing effluent discharge points.
The initial two units are scheduled for delivery in 2018, the release says. Work is scheduled to wrap up in 2020.
“This agreement underscores Veolia Nuclear Solutions’ ability to provide an innovative and comprehensive range of technologies, expertise and best-in-class operational capabilities to clients around the world. By bringing to bear the technology and operational know-how from Fukushima, one of the most significant environmental challenges in recent memory, we support Magnox and allow for treated water to be discharged under industry best practices,” Veolia Nuclear Solutions CEO William Gallo said in prepared comments.
Gallo told RadWaste Monitor that this is Nuclear Solutions’ first significant water processing contract in the United Kingdom. He declined to discuss the value of the deal.
Veolia said the units employed in the United Kingdom will be similar to technology deployed by subsidiary Kurion — the California- based nuclear cleanup technologies specialist acquired last year that forms the core of Nuclear Solutions — at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after the March 2011 meltdown of three reactors following an earthquake and tsunami in Japan. That technology enabled the extraction of 99.9 percent of radioactivity in contaminated water at Fukushima, according to Veolia.
Veolia Nuclear Solutions hopes to secure additional contracts with Magnox, which is decommissioning 12 nuclear sites around the United Kingdom, Gallo said in Phoenix during the annual Waste Management Symposium. “But we’re very focused on delivering for the Magnox sites” under the current contract, he added.
The technology originated in 2011 with Kurion as a fixed system that could treat 1,200 tons of water per day. Kurion subsequently developed a mobile version of the unit, and Veolia Nuclear Solutions continues to refine its isotope-removal efficiency, said Gallo, who was Kurion’s CEO at the time of the $350 million buyout.
Veolia completed the acquisition in April 2016 as it sought to dive into the global nuclear cleanup market. In December it announced the Veolia Nuclear Solutions brand, which encompasses its Kurion, Alaron, and Asteralis businesses. The new segment offers services including nuclear decommissioning, treatment of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste, the use of advanced robotics, and stabilization of nuclear waste.
Gallo said Nuclear Solutions has already won several contracts in Japan and the United States, notably a five-year deal in France to support performance improvements for a low-level radioactive waste treatment facility operated by a subsidiary of utility EDF.
Kurion executives have acknowledged it would take time to determine whether the acquisition by Veolia was a good fit. So far, Gallo said, it has proven to be just that: Veolia is providing access to thousands of employees and resources that allow Nuclear Solutions to operate worldwide and potentially make new acquisitions.
While Kurion was primarily a technology supplier, its successor can build, own, operate, and transfer technologies, according to the CEO.
“In the year since we closed the deal it’s been fantastic,” Gallo said. “It’s exceeded my hopes from one year ago.”
