Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) has awarded Jacobs a six and a half year, $10.4 million contract to lead the integrated design management team for one of the world’s deepest nuclear clean-up operations, the company reported on Thursday. 

"By deploying our design engineering and program management capabilities alongside DSRL, we will weave together several complex and challenging projects to ensure safe and efficient delivery," said Jacobs Critical Mission Solutions International Senior Vice President Clive White.

Under the contract, the Jacobs’ led team will play a crucial role in coordinating the operation to clear and treat radioactive waste in a former fast-reactor research and development center at Dounreay, United Kingdom (U.K.).

Jacobs has also been tasked with leading design integration to enable construction activities at Dounreay to begin. The contract has required Jacobs to assist with building work projects, managing design and design support during all commissioning and construction. 

The project will work to safely and efficiently clear radioactive waste in Dounreay’s shaft and silo. The intermediate-level waste has been stored at Dounreay since the 1960s and requires modern techniques to store hazardous material more effectively. 

The shaft is 214.5 feet underground and is 15 feet wide in some places. The silo is essentially a large underground vault secured with a concrete roof. Berkshire Engineering, a local civil engineering firm, will assist with test and trial work.

Jacobs has previous experience dealing with the UK nuclear sector. In May 2020, the U.K.’s Government Nuclear Decommissioning Authority selected Jacobs to study radioactivity released from irradiated graphite sampled from reactor cores at the U.K.'s nuclear power stations.

"The shaft and silo contain legacy wastes that must be emptied and repackaged for long-term storage before the site can be closed. These contracts are one step closer to the clean-up of these historical waste stores," said DSRL's Program Delivery Director, David Hubbard.

AECOM-Graham Construction joint venture (JV) has completed the design-build work on the first wastewater treatment plant in Victoria, British Columbia, AECOM reported on Thursday. The McLoughlin Point Wastewater Treatment Plant will deliver tertiary treatment for wastewater from the core area municipalities. 

“We’re honored to support the Capital Regional District in delivering this world-class wastewater treatment plant by bringing forward our industry leading resume of water and environmental solutions,” said Marc Devlin, AECOM’s regional chief executive, Canada. “AECOM is committed to leading environmental, social, and governance best practices and making a positive impact on the communities we serve.”

Work at the facility began in 2017 by Harbour Resource Partners, a joint venture between AECOM and Graham. The plant is the main component of a $590 million wastewater program undertaken by the Capital Regional District.

The design-build partnership leveraged AECOM’s wastewater design and environmental expertise and Graham’s well-established competence in this sector of construction in Canada. Despite logistical challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was successfully delivered on time, meeting federal and provincial regulations.

The JV delivered environmental work, including acquisition of all permits and approvals required for construction. The plant has incorporated elements that promote sustainability and energy efficiency, such as the construction of an operations and maintenance building.

In addition, an education and interpretive space is featured on the second floor of the building to engage the community with the plant’s water cycle, local natural environment, and the overall importance of stormwater management.

“The successful construction of the McLoughlin Point Wastewater Treatment Plant marks the completion of the most complex wastewater project ever built in Western Canada,” said Ian Dickinson, Graham’s executive vice president overseeing the project.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released an emergency directive requiring agencies to update their on-premises Microsoft Exchange Servers with security patches or disconnect the products. CISA said Wednesday that all agency chief information officers should submit a report by Friday, March 5, using the provided template to inform CISA about their status.

Microsoft issued the security updates after it found that a state-sponsored threat actor operating from China, called Hafnium, was targeting defense contractors, law firms, policy think tanks, infectious disease researchers and other entities to steal data by compromising on-premises Exchange Server software.

“Neither the vulnerabilities nor the identified exploit activity is currently known to affect Microsoft 365 or Azure Cloud deployments. Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities allows an attacker to access on-premises Exchange Servers, enabling them to gain persistent system access and control of an enterprise network,” the directive reads.

CISA also directed agencies to acquire forensic images, identify indicators of compromise and report to the agency the presence of web shell code on a compromised server, unauthorized access to accounts and evidence of lateral movement of malicious actors that have access to compromised servers.

CISA said it will issue additional indicators of compromise as soon as they become available, offer technical support to agencies without capabilities to comply with the directive and submit a report on outstanding issues to the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and director of the Office of Management and Budget by April 5.