Pioneering Arvia strikes US nuclear deal
A DARESBURY company that has developed a pioneering way of stabilising radioactive waste has struck a deal with the US Department of Energy (DoE).
Arvia, founded by Dr Nigel Brown, has come up with a way of eliminating organic material from radiocative liquid such as oil.
It means the liquid can be stored without the destabilising effect of organic material which changes in nature, causing storage drums to rust and leak.
A US firm called NuVision Engineering has won the contract and will licence Arvia’s technology on a Government pilot scheme. Arvia is the only business in the world to have developed such technology.
The value of the deal was not disclosed but it is a significant step in the wider acceptance of the technology and the development of the business, which is run by a small team at Sci-Tech Daresbury.
Chief executive Mike Lodge said: “This is an extremely valuable opportunity for Arvia to showcase its technology against some of the World’s most challenging wastes and to demonstrate that these wastes can now be safely processed.”
Dr Laurie Judd, vice president for Government programmes at NuVision, said: “We are excited by the partnership formed with Arvia and Perma-Fix and are grateful to the DOE’s international program for providing the funding for this work. This is another good example of how NuVision seeks out the best of international technologies to support the US DOE clean-up program.”
