Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
4/3/2015
Westinghouse and HOCHTIEF Infrastructure GmbH, a German-based engineering company, announced late last week that they have entered into teaming agreement to offer integrated decommissioning, decontamination and remediation services for nuclear power plants in Germany. Following the Fukushima disaster in Japan, Germany moved to shut down all of its nuclear plants in an effort to avoid any future accidents. Eight nuclear reactors were permanently shut down in March 2011, and 17 are planned to be phased out by 2022. According to Westinghouse, HOCHTIEF’s civil engineering experience and interim storage expertise made the partnership attractive. “This teaming agreement will bring together an excellent combination of safe, reliable and proven decommissioning, decontamination and remediation services, as well as a broad experience from the civil and construction sector that ultimately will contribute to our customer’s success,” Norbert Haspel, Westinghouse vice president and managing director, Central Europe, said in a statement.
The HOCHTIEF agreement marks the second such partnership that Westinghouse has entered into since the beginning of the year. In January, Westinghouse and Bechtel entered into a multi-year partnership agreement to provide decontamination and decommissioning services for commercial nuclear power plants. That 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 upon announcing the partnership. Westinghouse’s entrance into the D&D market marks a shift for the company, which has been mainly known for its front-end nuclear work, with over half the nation’s nuclear fleet using the company’s technology.
