Innovative Battery Manufacturing Facilities Construction management consultancy for building innovative battery manufacturing facilities in the United States. Bechtel is at the forefront of constructing innovative battery manufacturing facilities in the U.S. Our expert team ensures compliance with local codes and…
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The Bechtel-built mine, one of the largest copper resources, features a first-of-its-kind desalination plant and will operate on 100% renewable energy by 2025.
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Projects
Bechtel manages and operates the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in Carlsbad, Mexico. Located in a salt formation more than 2,100 feet underground, WIPP is the nation’s only operating geologic underground repository for defense-related transuranic nuclear waste, or TRU waste.
The defense-related waste is comprised of sturdy, metal containers filled with clothing, tools, rags, residues, debris, soil, and other items contaminated with small amounts of plutonium and other human-made radioactive elements. WIPP receives regular shipments of the waste from DOE sites around the country and is responsible for emplacing the waste in the repository, consisting of underground tunnels and storage rooms.
Located in a bedded salt formation, the waste emplaced in disposal rooms at WIPP will be encapsulated in salt through natural geologic processes, safely isolating the waste for thousands of years.
In 2022, the DOE selected Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, LLC (SIMCO), a Bechtel National Inc. company, to manage and operate WIPP and lead capital improvement projects. In the 1980s, Bechtel was part of the team that designed, engineered, and constructed WIPP.
For more than two decades, the Bechtel team has supervised the safe and permanent disposal of legacy waste from nuclear weapons production and nuclear defense activities at DOE sites. With Bechtel’s extensive experience in the mining industry and SIMCO’s world class leadership experience in mine construction, safety, and maintenance, the team provides cutting-edge design and operations knowledge, along with methods and tools to improve safety, schedule, and cost.
Recently, WIPP completed construction of the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System facility, a new, state-of-the-art, large-scale ventilation system. In 2024, WIPP recorded its best shipment performance in 10 years, by receiving 490 waste shipments from generator sites nation-wide. Additionally, for the first time in a decade, WIPP crews began mining a new waste disposal panel in the repository.
South Carolina, U.S.
2020
Bechtel’s Savannah River Remediation safely processed Cold War-era radioactive waste, closing waste tanks, saving $500M, and advancing U.S. nuclear cleanup efforts.
Idaho, U.S.
2011
The Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Plant safely processed and shipped 58,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste, achieving DOE cleanup goals ahead of schedule.
Washington, U.S.
2025
Bechtel is building a facility to turn Manhattan Project-era radioactive waste into stable glass, eliminating its threat to the environment.
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