Burns & McDonnell to build $12 million Nuclear Safety Class Building

Kansas City, Mo. — Burns & McDonnell has won its first major contract in the sensitive nuclear construction industry, a special use building that will house two redundant power supply systems for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Greg Graves, chairman and CEO of Burns & McDonnell, described the new contract as a “game-changing win” for the firm.

The firm became eligible to build the new Los Alamos facility after receiving Nuclear Quality Assurance-1 (NQA-1) certification from the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

“This project will serve as Burns & McDonnell’s first nuclear construction project under our newly certified nuclear quality assurance program,” Graves said. “This win also was made possible by a team with qualifications in a number of specialized nuclear certifications.

The ASME NQA-1 designation allows Burns & McDonnell to join the limited market of contractors capable to design and construct nuclear facilities in the United States, both commercial and government.

The new safety class building to be built by Burns & McDonnell at Los Alamos over an 18-month period will include construction of a nuclear-qualified concrete structure, HVAC, electrical systems and two, redundant safety class Uninterruptible Power Supply systems.

Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and URS Corporation for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health and global security concerns.

The ASME NQA-1 designation confirms that Burns & McDonnell meets the processes and procedures required for supplying engineering and construction services for safety functions at Department of Energy nuclear facilities. 

“Burns & McDonnell‘s success obtaining this contract at Los Alamos adds another capable contractor to a very limited field of firms able to compete for possible openings in the nuclear facility design and construction market for DOE,” said Willie Clark III,  federal business development manager for Burns & McDonnell.