Fluor, Bechtel Finalists for Reactor Project

The Energy Department said Monday that it has tapped Irvine-based Fluor Corp. as one of two finalists for a multiyear contract worth $2 billion to manage construction of a new reactor to produce a radioactive gas critical to the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

The company’s Fluor Daniel unit and a subsidiary of Bechtel Corp. of San Francisco each received contracts worth up to $4 million for preliminary work on construction feasibility and cost estimates for a new reactor to replace the three aged and leaking reactors at Savannah River, S.C., that were closed in 1988.

The Energy Department said Monday that, depending on which reactor design it selects late this year, either Fluor will manage construction of a modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor or Bechtel will oversee the building of a heavy water reactor.

Alan H. Dorsey, an analyst with Dillon, Read & Co. in New York, said the construction management contract would be a significant one for either company and suggested that Fluor might be better positioned to win the nod than Bechtel.

Although Bechtel “has a knack” for winning major government contracts, he said, its heavy involvement in the eventual rebuilding of Kuwait might make Energy Department officials concerned that it would be stretched too thin if it received the Savannah River pact was well. Fluor, however, is also heavily involved in the Mideast. In addition to winning a multibillion-dollar, 10-year pact last year to help refurbish Saudi Arabia’s vast oil and natural gas facilities, the company is also talking to Kuwaiti officials about a role in that nation’s reconstruction in the wake of the Persian Gulf War.

Fluor Daniel officials could not be reached for comment. Fluor spokeswoman Deborah Land said the company submitted its bid in December.