The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site prime in South Carolina has contracted a domestic affiliate of Toronto-based Aecon to handle $100-million worth of decommissioning to help pave the way for the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility.
In an Oct. 26 press release, South Carolina-based Aecon-Wachs said it has landed two contracts with Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), valued at $100 million, for decommissioning-related work.
The DOE and SRNS are retrofitting the now-terminated Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the federal complex into the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility. Aecon-Wachs will support the transition of the Building 226-F for plutonium pit production.
This will be done through the demolition and removal of all components, including equipment and bulk commodities “while protecting the existing structure,” Aecon-Wachs said in its press release. Aecon-Wachs will design, install and maintain temporary heating, ventilation and air conditioning to provide proper climate controls in the facility during construction.
The demolition work started in October and will run through October 2024 with a multi-year optional maintenance program to follow, according to the release. Aecon-Wachs and its preferred subcontractors and small business partners will provide more than 175 workers over time.
“Since the 2018 acquisition of Wachs Services by Aecon Group, we set a strategic mission to grow our nuclear portfolio in next-generation nuclear technologies, existing plant maintenance and life extensions, decommissioning and government services,” said Aecon-Wachs vice president and general manager Keith Willingham. Willingham started his career at the Savannah River Site 35 years ago, according to the press release.
Aecon-Wachs already has current reactor segmentation and large component removal projects underway at DOE’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee and several commercial nuclear sites
By the 2030s, the DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) hopes to start producing the pits used in nuclear weapons at Savannah River. The federal government hopes to see 80 pits produced annually, 50 from Savannah River and 30 from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
