U.S. engineering and infrastructure company AECOM has been awarded a contract to evaluate potential locations for Australia’s National Radioactive Waste Management Facility, the federal Department of Industry, Innovation, and Science said Friday.
The agency did not cite the value or length of the contract in a press release. A spokesman for AECOM could not immediately be reached for comment.
AECOM will provide the same services at three sites in contention in the state of South Australia, two in the town of Kimba and one in Wallerberdina Station.
It will start by evaluating plant and animal life, geology, seismic activity, potential dangers, the environment, and infrastructure in each area. That will then be used to develop a detailed business case encompassing site-specific design and cost projections for each location. A subsequent option would involve “preparation and development of submissions for licensing and approvals process,” the release says.
Five companies bid on the contract, with AECOM securing the award due to its background in engineering and radioactive waste management and its prior work in South Australia.
This work is part of the second phase of the site selection process for what is intended to be a 100-acre facility for permanent disposal of low-level radioactive waste and temporary storage of intermediate-level waste. The nation has about 4,250 cubic meters of low-level waste and 656 cubic meters of intermediate-level waste.
