CB&I to Supply Process Vessels for World's Largest Radioactive Waste Treatment Plant.

Business/Energy Editors

CBI Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI), has been awarded a contract valued at approximately US$40 million by Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI) to supply specialized vessels and other components for the Waste Treatment Plant - River Protection Project at the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site near Richland, Washington.

Plutonium was produced for national defense at the Hanford Site from World War II through the end of the Cold War. More than 53 million gallons of chemical and radioactive waste from the plutonium manufacturing process are stored in underground tanks at the site. In December 2000, the Department of Energy awarded BNI a 10-year, US$4 billion contract to design, construct and start up the world's largest radioactive waste vitrification plant to treat the waste at the Hanford Site. Vitrification is a process that immobilizes radioactive waste by blending it into molten glass which is encased in stainless steel canisters. The glassified waste will remain stable and impervious to the environment for the hundreds to thousands of years it takes for the radioactivity to decay. Construction of the Waste Treatment Plant began earlier this year, with commissioning scheduled to begin in 2007.

CB&I will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, fabrication and field installation of four skirt-supported stainless steel ASME Section VII Waste Feed Receipt Vessels. These vessels will be located in the Pretreatment Facility, which will separate high-level radioactive waste from low-activity waste pumped from the underground tanks. The work will be executed under the provisions of a nuclear level quality assurance program. In addition, CB&I's scope will include the installation of more than 150,000 square feet of stainless steel plate that will serve as a secondary containment liner in several of the buildings where the vitrification process will take place. CB&I will begin design work on the vessels this summer, with site mobilization expected in late 2002 and completion of its work scope scheduled for early 2005.

CB&I previously worked with Bechtel and the Department of Energy to provide process vessels for the Defense Waste Processing Facility, an operating vitrification plant located at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina.

CB&I is a global specialty engineering and construction company offering a complete package of design, engineering, fabrication, construction and maintenance services. Our products include hydrocarbon processing plants, LNG terminals and peak shaving plants, bulk liquid terminals, water storage and treatment facilities, and other steel structures and their associated systems. Information about CB&I is available at www.chicagobridge.com.