Veolia forms nuclear cleanup division

Veolia, a global environmental services firm headquartered in Paris, has created a new entity called Nuclear Solutions, which has been designed to bring together all Veolia’s activities in the field of nuclear clean-up under one division.

The newly formed division incorporates the expertise of three of Veolia’s business entities: Kurion, Alaron and Asteralis. Veolia says the new business will offer the nuclear industry the most complete range of technologies, expertise and services for cleaning-up and dismantling installations, and treating low and medium-level radioactive waste.

The new entity covers the complete chain of Veolia’s expertise in the nuclear cleanup area: secure access to contaminated zones, waste characterization and measurement, sorting, separation, transport, decontamination and stabilization.

Veolia notes that its Nuclear Solutions business will operate mainly in the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada. The company adds that it is the only international operator to be working at Fukushima on behalf of Tepco, the Japanese nuclear energy producer. In France, the entity has a collaborative agreement and works with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).

Further, at the end of December 2016, SOCOEDI, a subsidiary of the French utility firm EDF, awarded Veolia a contract to improve the performance of the metal waste recycling unit of its CENTRACO site in southern France. The waste is sorted, packed and decontaminated before being melted down on site. At the end of 2016, EDF chose Veolia and its accredited laboratory COFRAC to carry out chemical and radiological analyses of its sites and soils.

“Veolia’s Nuclear Solutions entity provides unique value to its customers, with a broad array of capabilities and offerings across the nuclear and environmental sectors, effective technologies for hazardous waste and pollution treatment, experience in complex operations and risk mitigation and management. This Business Unit underscores Veolia’s standalone ability to confront the unique environmental challenges faced by this and future generations,” says William Gallo, CEO of Veolia’s Nuclear Solutions.