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Dept. of Energy Awards More Than $16 Million for GNEP Tech Development

Areva, EnergySolutions, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Americas, and General Atomics to Develop Conceptual Design

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) completed cooperative agreements on Friday with four industry consortia to receive $16.3 million for technical and conceptual design studies to further the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). Today's announcement follows the selections for negotiation of terms under a Funding Opportunity Announcement in July to AREVA; Energy Solutions; GE-Hitachi Nuclear Americas, LLC; and General Atomics to develop studies for a GNEP nuclear fuel recycling center and advanced recycling reactor. Funding under the cooperative agreements awarded last week is as follows: $5.6 million to AREVA; $4.3 million to EnergySolutions, LLC; $4.8 million to GE-Hitachi Nuclear Americas, LLC; and $1.6 million to General Atomics. DOE will evaluate the information and recommendations provided by the teams, as well as other data and analyses, to explore the technical and business parameters that could support the development and deployment of GNEP technology.

"These studies will contribute to the analysis and inform the research that DOE is conducting to further the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership," Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy Dennis R. Spurgeon said. "These awards enable DOE to benefit from the vast technological and business experience of the private sector as we move towards the goal of closing the nuclear fuel cycle."

In July, DOE announced that four consortia led by AREVA; EnergySolutions, LLC; GE-Hitachi Nuclear Americas, LLC; and General Atomics were selected to receive up to $16 million. DOE has since negotiated the final terms of the cooperative agreements with the selected applicants and awards have been made for the consortia to provide conceptual design studies, technology development roadmaps, business plans, and a communications strategy in 2008 supporting decisions regarding the GNEP proposal for a nuclear fuel recycling center and advanced recycling reactor.

The following outlines the funding negotiated for each applicant.

AREVA ($5.6 Million)

Principle Team Members: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.; Battelle Memorial Institute-Columbus Operations BWX Technologies, Inc.; Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.; and Washington Group International

ENERGY SOLUTIONS, LLC (ENERGY SOLUTIONS) ($4.3 Million)

Principle Team Members: The Shaw Group and Westinghouse Electric Company. Additional members: Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL); Booz Allen Hamilton; Nexia Solutions; Nuclear Fuel Services; and Toshiba.

GE-HITACHI NUCLEAR AMERICAS, LLC (GE-HITACHI) ($4.8 Million)

Team Members: Burns and Roe; Ernst & Young; Fluor Corporation; International Business Machines (IBM); and Lockheed Martin.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy