[ RadSafe ] Feds switches general contractor at Yucca Mountain

[Maury Siskel]

Feds switches general contractor at Yucca Mountain

Thursday, October 30, 2008

(10-30) 14:32 PDT LAS VEGAS, (AP) --

The federal government is switching the main contractor for the Yucca 
Mountain nuclear waste project.

The Energy Department announced Thursday in Washington that a firm 
headed by USA Repository Services will take over April 1 from 
Bechtel-SAIC under a $2.5 billion management contract. DOE is giving no 
reason for the change.

USA Repository Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of construction and 
engineering design firm URS Corp. It's got two principal subcontractors 
on the Yucca Mountain project: Louisiana-based Shaw Environmental and 
Infrastructure Inc., and nuclear fuels management specialist AREVA 
Federal Services.

The five-year contract has a five-year option that could go through 
March 2019.

The Energy Department is seeking a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license 
to entomb 77,000 tons of radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles 
northwest of Las Vegas.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/30/financial/f143244D90.DTL