An executive with a U.S. affiliate of French multinational Veolia on Jan. 25 said the waste management company’s acquisition of Piketon, Ohio-based Wastren Advantage is “a great fit,” according to slides for a presentation to the Energy, Technology and Environmental Business Association in Tennessee.
The presentation by VNS Federal Services Senior Vice President for Business Development David Campbell represents perhaps the first public acknowledgement of the acquisition by a Veolia official.
The parties began talks in March 2017 and worked out a purchase agreement by the end of the year, according to Campbell’s slides. The deal, terms of which have not been disclosed, was completed last month following conclusion of the Department of Energy’s foreign ownership and control influence analysis, the presentation says.
All Wastren Advantage and Veolia Nuclear Solutions business with the U.S. government has now been rolled into VNS Federal Services LLC, he noted.
Wastren Advantage’s capabilities are complementary, rather than duplicative, to its new parent company, Campbell stated.
Incorporated in 1992, Wastren works at many DOE locations, including managing sampling and analytical services at the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site near Richland, Wash. The company also provides technology and cybersecurity services at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant cleanup in Kentucky and has been a prime contractor or subcontractor, performing a variety of services for years, at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio, according to the Wastren website.
Paris-based Veolia is 160 years old. The international company has 163,000 employees, with 9,000 of them in North America, and has roughly $27 billion in revenue. The company’s global nuclear business has been consolidated under Veolia Nuclear Solutions (VNS), which has projects in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and France. It has vitrified more than 26,000 metric tons of nuclear waste.
Wastren’s project management and infrastructure experience with DOE will dovetail well with Veolia Nuclear Solutions’ background in engineering, technology, and international markets, Campbell said in the presentation.
The primary market for VNS Federal Solutions, which now includes Wastren, will be DOE’s Office of Environmental Management and semiautonomous National Nuclear Safety Administration. There should be no impact on existing contracts, according to the presentation.
“Our plan is to grow fairly quickly over the next two years,” one slide says. “Oak Ridge, Portsmouth and Paducah are definitely high on our priority list.”
Billy Morrison, Nuclear Solutions head of North America operations, is also now CEO of VNS Federal Services, according to the Veolia website. Wastren Advantage CEO Steve Moore will stay on as chief operating officer of VNS Federal Services, and report to Morrison, sources have said.
