AIKEN, S.C. (Sept. 26, 2017) — AECOM, a premier, fully integrated global infrastructure firm, announced today that Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC (NWP), an AECOM led joint venture, has been awarded a contract extension by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage and operate the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico. NWP also includes Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Group, Inc. Under the terms of the extension, NWP will manage and operate WIPP for a three-year term beginning October 1, 2017 with the potential for another two years through September 30, 2022. The estimated value of the 3-year extension is US$928 million.
WIPP is the world’s first underground repository certified for the safe and permanent disposal of transuranic radioactive waste, which is material contaminated with man-made radioisotopes that are heavier than uranium. In addition to managing the repository, which is located 2,150 feet underground in a deep-geologic salt formation, NWP works with generator sites to characterize and certify waste while coordinating shipments to WIPP.
DOE Carlsbad Field Office manager Todd Schrader said, “This negotiated option will give Nuclear Waste partnership the necessary time to continue the progress they achieved through the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant recovery and resumption of shipments.”
“We are honored the Department of Energy has the confidence in our team to continue operations at WIPP,” said John Vollmer, president of AECOM’s Management Services Group. “Nuclear Waste Partnership has done an excellent job in restarting transuranic waste operations at WIPP and remains dedicated to safe, continued operations of the repository for our DOE client.”
The WIPP is the only U.S. facility for deep geological disposal of transuranic radioactive waste as by-products of nuclear weapons production and assembly.
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