B&W Subsidiary Awarded Contract to Downblend Highly Enriched Uranium
02 July 2009 - 4:00AM
Business Wire
McDermott International, Inc. (�McDermott�) (NYSE: MDR)
announced today that a subsidiary of The Babcock & Wilcox
Company (�B&W�) has been awarded a contract to downblend over
12 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (�HEU�) into low enriched
uranium (�LEU�) at its Erwin, Tennessee facility.
Working under prime contractor WesDyne International, LLC and in
support of the National Nuclear Security Administration�s (�NNSA�)
nonproliferation initiative to reduce HEU stockpiles around the
world, B&W�s subsidiary will fulfill the downblending portion
of the contract, which also includes transportation, storage and
other activities to be performed by WesDyne.
Downblending is the process whereby HEU is processed to reduce
its concentration of Uranium-235 to levels suitable for use in
commercial power plants. The resulting LEU is no longer suitable
for use in nuclear weapons and can be used for peaceful purposes,
including assurance of fuel supply to utilities participating in
the MOX program for the disposition of surplus weapons plutonium.
The downblending and processing of HEU, as well as other materials,
for commercial reactor applications is an ongoing business and core
competency of B&W.
The contract period of performance is anticipated by NNSA to be
up to nine years, although the downblending portion is expected to
be complete within four years.
�B&W and its subsidiaries have enjoyed strong partnerships
with the NNSA and other commercial companies in HEU downblending
for a number of years,� noted B&W Nuclear Operations Group
President Winfred Nash. �We�re looking forward to completing
another installment in this essential project, and we anticipate
additional opportunities in the future.� B&W successfully
completed a 50-metric ton downblending project in 2006.
Additionally, its subsidiary, Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. which was
acquired late last year, was previously awarded a contract to
downblend over 17 metric tons of HEU in 2007.
McDermott is an engineering and construction company, with
specialty manufacturing and service capabilities, focused on energy
infrastructure. McDermott�s customers are predominantly utilities
and other power generators, major and national oil companies, and
the United States Government. With its global operations, McDermott
operates in over 20 countries with more than 25,000 employees, and
can be found on the internet at www.mcdermott.com.
In accordance with the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, McDermott International,
Inc. cautions that statements in this press release which are
forward-looking and provide other than historical information
involve risks and uncertainties that may impact McDermott�s actual
results of operations. The forward-looking statements in this press
release include, among other things, the expected scope and timing
associated with the downblending contract and expectations for
additional downblending work in the future. Although McDermott�s
management believes that the expectations reflected in those
forward-looking statements are reasonable, McDermott can give no
assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct.
Those statements are made based on various underlying assumptions
and are subject to numerous uncertainties and risks, including
without limitation, changes in project design or schedules,
contract cancellations, change orders and other modifications,
competitive or customer changes, and difficulties executing on the
project. If one or more of these risks materialize, or if
underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary
materially from those expected. For a more complete discussion of
these and other risk factors, please see McDermott�s annual report
on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, and subsequent
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
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