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Tag: BWX Technologies Inc.

BWXT wins potential $45B DOE contract

A joint venture led by BWX Technologies Inc. has won a federal contract worth up to $45 billion — its largest ever — from the U.S. Department of Energy to clean up a decommissioned nuclear production site in southeastern Washington state, the Lynchburg-based nuclear components and fuel supplier announced Monday.

The Hanford Site Tank Farms has 177 underground waste storage tanks with 54 million gallons of nuclear waste produced by plutonium production, according to a 2021 federal report. The Department of Energy awarded the 10-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity Hanford Integrated Tank Disposition Contract (ITDC) to Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure LLC (H2C), a joint venture led by BWXT’s Technical Services subsidiary that includes Amentum Environment & Energy Inc. and Fluor Federal Services Inc.

“This is the largest single contract award in our company’s history and is a stair-step achievement as we strengthen our leadership position in environmental restoration at highly technical projects across the nation,” BWXT President and CEO Rex Geveden said in a statement.

The federal government produced plutonium for more than 40 years, from 1943 to 1987, at the Hanford Site, near Richland, Washington. The DOE is repurposing the site to treat tank waste from the production period in an environmental cleanup. The site has 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste stored in 159 underground tanks, according to the DOE.

Low-activity radioactive waste will be removed and treated and eventually turned into a glass product through the vitrification process, which mixes the waste with glass-forming materials and heats it to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit so the waste bonds with the glass. Vitrification will occur at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, which contractor Bechtel National Inc. is constructing. Bechtel completed construction on the first phase of the facilities in January 2021, and the multiyear testing and commissioning period has begun.

Under the ITDC contract, H2C will operate tank farm facilities; design, construct and operate waste-receiving facilities and treatment capabilities; operate the eventual Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant; and oversee core project functions, including project management and environment, safety, health and quality functions.

Fortune 1000 company BWXT has roughly 7,000 employees and 14 major operating sites across the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

BWXT names general counsel

Lynchburg-based BWX Technologies Inc. has promoted Ronald O. “Chip” Whitford Jr. to senior vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary, the Fortune 1000 federal contractor announced Wednesday.

The promotion was effective Tuesday. Whitford, who joined BWXT in 2017 and has most recently served as vice president, deputy general counsel and assistant corporate secretary, replaced Thomas E. McCabe, who will retire Aug. 1. McCabe will serve as special adviser to BWXT CEO and President Rex Geveden until his retirement.

In his new role, Whitford will be responsible for BWXT’s legal, ethics and compliance functions and serve as an executive liaison and secretary to the board of directors.

“As a part of our succession planning process, we are extremely fortunate to have someone of Chip’s caliber and experience fully ready to take on this crucial position for BWXT,” Geveden said in a statement. “We wish Tom McCabe, our outgoing general counsel, all the best in retirement and appreciate him staying with us in an advisory capacity through July 2023.”

Whiffed served as in-house counsel for companies in the manufacturing, financial services and software industries prior to joining BWXT. He served as general counsel and secretary of Tasty Baking Co., which makes Tastykake snacks; vice president, legal and assistant secretary of financial services company PHH Corp.; associate general counsel and assistant secretary of tobacco manufacturer Lorillard Inc.; and group vice president, associate general counsel and assistant secretary of Rimini Street Inc., which provides third-party software support.

Whitford began his legal career in private practice in Cleveland, Ohio. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics and English from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

This is the second job-related announcement for BWXT in 2023. On Jan. 2, the company announced that it had named Omar Meguid as a senior vice president and to the new role of chief digital officer.

BWXT names chief digital officer, SVP

Lynchburg-based Fortune 1000 federal contractor BWX Technologies Inc. has named Omar Meguid senior vice president and chief digital officer, the company announced Tuesday.

Meguid’s position was effective Jan. 1. He is responsible for BWXT’s digital platform supporting business operations in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The role is a new position within the company and Meguid joins its executive management team. He will report to BWXT President and CEO Rex Geveden.

Meguid previously worked at IT consulting firm All Digital and also served as vice president and chief information officer for Florida-based L3Harris Technologies from 2015 though early 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“We are thrilled to recruit such a talented and well-regarded executive to our team,” Geveden said in a statement. “Given the need for tight digital coordination across our business units and functions, this is a critical role in our company. We are extremely fortunate that someone of Omar’s knowledge and insight will be able to deliver expert leadership across all of our legacy and emerging IT systems.”