by Lisa Peterson
Who are we?
AREVA subsidiary, AREVA Federal Services, works to support the Department of Energy in projects throughout the United States. Some of the important work going on right now includes nuclear engineering services, such as nuclear waste cleanup activities, nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear energy sciences and radioactive waste services.
AFS came about in 2007 to meet the growing needs of the Department of Energy. As an integral part of AREVA North America, AREVA Federal Services can provide its customers with the best in technologies and services. AREVA Federal Services personnel have been in the business for many, many years and are very experienced in the nuclear energy industry.
A little about what we do:
Nuclear Waste Cleanup
AREVA Federal Services is actively involved in the nuclear waste clean up efforts out at the Hanford site in southeast Washington State. The Hanford site is the largest environmental cleanup project in the U.S. Just last year, we won two contracts to be a major subcontractor to the Tank Operations Contract and to the Plateau Remediation Contract.
The Tank Operations project is for the complex and challenging cleanup of 53 million gallons of residual radioactive and chemical waste stored in 177 large aging underground tanks grouped in 16 farms at the 586 square mile Hanford site. The tank contents include material from the World War II years and post-war production of material for nuclear weapons. AREVA Federal Services is a member of the Office of River Protection LLC, the group responsible for safely managing the waste until it is prepared for disposal.
There is about 2,300 tons of used nuclear fuel, 11.5 tons of plutonium in various forms and 25 million cubic feet of solid waste in the Hanford Plateau. The Plateau Remediation project involves environmental and facility cleanup at the Plutonium Finishing Plant.
Contributing to Nuclear Nonproliferation
Down at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken, South Carolina Shaw AREVA MOX Services LLC is building a facility to dispose of weapons-grade plutonium. The MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility will take surplus weapons-grade plutonium, remove its impurities and mix it with uranium oxide to form MOX fuel pellets for nuclear fuel reactor assemblies. These assemblies are then used in commercial nuclear power reactors.
Aerial View of MOX Facility Construction
In other words, Shaw AREVA MOX Services LLC, which AREVA Federal Services is a partner in, takes nuclear weapons-grade plutonium and reduces it down to usable fuel to power America.
That’s just a glimpse of what we do. AREVA Federal Services does much more too! The next blog will focus on AREVA Federal Services’ role and experience in nuclear energy sciences and our radioactive waste services. Stay tuned!
Tags: AREVA Federal Services, AREVA Inc., AREVA North America, Government & Policy, Non-proliferation, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Shaw AREVA MOX Services
