Westinghouse Electric Company today announced a multi-year alliance agreement with Bechtel to provide tailored decontamination, decommissioning and remediation (DD&R) services to U.S. commercial nuclear power plants.

Leveraging each company’s more than 50 years of global nuclear experience, the alliance will provide the U.S. nuclear energy market with a comprehensive scope of DD&R services. Examples of these services include pre-shutdown planning, characterization, decontamination, licensing, project development and management, dismantling, demolition, waste handling and site close-out.

“Westinghouse is pleased to join with Bechtel to bring about the most fully integrated range of decontamination, decommissioning and remediation services available to the U.S. nuclear energy market,” said Mark Marano, Westinghouse president, Americas. “The deployment of consolidated, proven technologies and processes from this alliance will meet the needs of U.S. nuclear power plants that are coming off-line, ultimately allowing the opportunity to return the land to useable property.”

The alliance will approach nuclear plant DD&R through a strategic, management-of-actions, resources and technology, or SMART, method. Focus will be on the efficient handling of highly radioactive materials to provide the lowest-cost, lowest-risk solutions for each plant, with the end goal of maintaining a positive environmental impact.

“The Westinghouse and Bechtel alliance has the skills and longevity to take on the challenges of today’s and tomorrow’s nuclear site decommissioning projects,” said Nick Liparulo, Westinghouse senior vice president, Engineering, Equipment and Major Projects. “This is an example of how we support the safe and environmentally friendly life cycle of nuclear power plants in their entirety.”

Westinghouse provides fuel, services, technology, plant design and equipment for the commercial nuclear power industry. The company supplied the world's first pressurized water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa., and its technology is the basis for nearly half of the world’s operating commercial nuclear power plants.

“The alliance between Bechtel and Westinghouse represents a strong and proven set of solutions to the industry’s need for safe and reliable D&D execution,” said Michael Graham, general manager of Bechtel’s global environmental business.

Bechtel has been a leader in the nuclear industry for more than 60 years, having performed services on 88 percent of the U.S. nuclear power fleet. The company has more than three decades of experience in cleanup, decommissioning, remediation and closure at more than 500 contaminated sites across the world, including nuclear waste facilities in Washington state, New Mexico, Idaho, Tennessee and South Carolina. Bechtel also performed extensive decontamination and decommissioning after the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.

Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation (TKY:6502), is the world's pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first pressurized water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa., U.S. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants.

Bechtel is among the most respected engineering, project management and construction companies in the world. We stand apart for our ability to get the job done right—no matter how big, how complex or how remote. Bechtel operates through five global business units that specialize in civil infrastructure; power generation, communications and transmission; mining and metals; oil, gas and chemicals; and government services. Since its founding in 1898, Bechtel has worked on more than 25,000 projects in 160 countries on all seven continents. Today, our 53,000 colleagues team with customers, partners and suppliers on diverse projects in nearly 40 countries. www.bechtel.com.