Wagstaff Applied Technologies, a division of Spokane Valley-based manufacturer Wagstaff Inc., has in the works several sizable projects, including two multimillion-dollar contracts with the U.S. Department of Energy, that will keep it busy throughout 2012.

The steady stream of work follows a year in which revenue generated from Wagstaff Applied Technologies' projects more than doubled, compared with 2010, division manager Mike Niccolls says.

Established in 2001 as a specialty division of the 64-year-old company, Wagstaff Applied Technologies handles custom machining, automation, and mechanical and electrical engineering design services that complement its core business, which involves manufacturing equipment for the aluminum industry.

The division primarily focuses on projects for nuclear waste management, nuclear power generation, and the hydroelectric sector, Niccolls says.

"The purpose of the Applied Technologies side is to do projects to custom design specifications, and we do the whole project from engineering and manufacturing to assembly, testing, and onsite installation," Niccolls says.

Right now, the division is working on two sizable projects for the nuclear waste cleanup efforts at the Hanford Site, near Richland, Wash. Wagstaff Applied Technologies was awarded the separate multimillion contracts for those projects in mid-2011, Niccolls says.

He declines to disclose the exact value of the jobs, but says work in the area of nuclear waste management makes up more than 50 percent of the Applied Technologies division's project portfolio, and is followed by work for the hydroelectric industry.

In addition to the Hanford contracts, Niccolls says the division is contracted with Avista Utilities to rehab components of the turbines from its Noxon Rapids Dam, located on the Clark Fork River in western Montana. That job is part of the utility's ongoing effort to improve the efficiency of its power-generation facilities.

It's somewhat difficult to predict the division's job outlook for this year, however, because work is contract based and the competition is high from companies that offer similar services, says Turina McClelland, Wagstaff's marketing communications specialist.

"Applied Technologies has been winning more contracts now compared to previous years, and as they get experience with machining, the division will become more well known," McClelland says.

Niccolls echoes her sentiments and says, "The forecast is bright; we now exhibit at six trade shows a year, and we have been hitting those hard in the last three years."

Those trade shows include both national and international events, he adds.

Wagstaff employs about 350 people companywide, about 300 of whom are based here, McClelland says. The company also has employees at more than 20 international sales offices and at a manufacturing facility in Hebron, Ky.

Niccolls says the company's Spokane Valley facility, at 3910 N. Flora, which includes its main offices and machining shop, totals about 90,000 square feet.

He declines to disclose the number of employees who specifically are with Wagstaff Applied Technologies because many of those jobs also cross over to Wagstaff's main aluminum-casting side, which also provides the machining services for its specialty division's projects.

"The Applied Technologies group has its own sales, project management, engineering, procurement, and quality assurance departments, but all of Wagstaff uses the same shop," Niccolls says.

He anticipates the specialty division will do some hiring in the coming year, but isn't sure how many new positions could be added.

Since 2003, Wagstaff Applied Technologies has been involved with the Department of Energy's ongoing project to construct what's being called the Waste Treatment & Immobilization Plant at Hanford, says Courtney Johnson, the division's engineering manager.

That facility, he says, is being constructed for the purpose of turning Hanford's more than 50 million gallons of radioactive and chemical liquid waste into a glass-like form through a process called vitrification. That process makes the waste more stable. It then can be stored permanently in stainless steel canisters, he says.

In the last nine or so years, the Applied Technologies division has completed seven other projects associated with the construction of that facility, Johnson says.

Of the two more recently awarded contracts, one involves the engineering and manufacturing of a stainless steel lifting device that is to have a capacity of up to 10 tons and will be installed at the nuclear waste treatment facility, he says.

The completion of that project is anticipated to occur during the third quarter of this year, he says.

The other contract involves the engineering, manufacturing, and assembly of several pieces of equipment that are to be used in a part of the facility that's referred to as the melter cave, Johnson says.

In that area, the radioactive waste is mixed with glass-forming materials that are heated at a temperature of 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Because the waste material is radioactive, this process is done in a robotically-controlled environment, Johnson says.

Wagstaff Applied Technologies' contract is to design and build several radio-controlled vehicles, hoists, and a variety of stainless-steel panels that will enable workers to complete parts of the vitrification process remotely, he says.

"They are doing everything by camera because it's a radioactive environment," Johnson says.

Niccolls says that some of the equipment the Applied Technologies division is making for this specific task will be completed this year, but the majority is expected to be finished in 2013.

Currently, both of the projects for Hanford are in the engineering phase.

For some of the past Hanford job contracts, Johnson says, Wagstaff Applied Technologies engineered and built machines to fill the stainless steel canisters used to store the vitrified waste, as well as machines that place the lids onto those containers. The specialty division also has constructed a complex conveyor system that carries those containers through the waste treatment facility, Johnson says.

In the area of hydroelectric power generation, Wagstaff Applied Technologies is working on projects for Avista Utilities as part of its effort to rehab the electricity-generating turbines at several of its dams.

Niccolls says Wagstaff Applied Technologies is in the midst of a second major contract to refurbish turbine components for Avista's Noxon Rapids Dam. That work is expected to wrap up in February, he says.

To complete work on the massive turbine parts, Niccolls says Avista takes the turbines out of service and ships what parts can be disassembled and moved to Wagstaff's facility here.

He says the contracts for those projects are significant in value, but aren't as large dollarwise as the nuclear waste management jobs.

Other projects for the hydroelectric industry that the division has completed in the last several years include some work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's Walla Walla, Wash., district office and the Pend Oreille Public Utility District, in Newport, Wash., Niccolls says. While Wagstaff Applied Technologies' primary focus is on projects in the nuclear and hydroelectric industries, Niccolls says the division also has an interest in securing work associated with national defense, and in the areas of wave energy, petrochemical, and mining.

He says that Wagstaff Applied Technologies is a component supplier for a company in Oregon that's involved with a U.S. Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency program.

The division's work in the area of national defense is expected to pick up this year, Niccolls adds.