Sellafield contract for AMEC consortium

London -  Nuclear Management Partners (NMP), a consortium comprising AMEC, AREVA, and URS Washington Division, has been selected as preferred bidder in the competition to run the Sellafield nuclear site, the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has announced. The programme could potentially be worth over £20 billion, making it one of the largest ever public sector contracts in the UK.

The Parent Body Organisation (PBO) contract for the Sellafield Site Licence Company covers the reprocessing and waste storage facilities at Sellafield, the former nuclear power stations Calder Hall and Windscale, all in West Cumbria; the Capenhurst nuclear site and an engineering design centre at Risely in Cheshire. The contract is valued at around £1.3 billion per annum - with annual bonus incentives of around £50 million - and is to be awarded initially for a period of five years with the potential of further extension periods for a total of 17 years. 

The consortium will now enter into detailed talks with the NDA prior to finalisation of the contract, which is expected in October 2008. Following a period of transition the shares will be transferred from BNFL to the new parent body for the Sellafield SLC later in the year, the NDA added.

The NDA had invited four organisations/consortia to submit final bids for the contract. The three other bidders who submitted final tenders were CH2MHill Nuclear Services Ltd; Fluor Ltd in partnership with Toshiba; the SBB Nuclear consortium, comprising Serco, Bechtel and Babcock & Wilcox.

According to Dr Ian Roxburgh, NDA chief executive . The NMP consortium "emerged from a very strong field of four bidders and will now move towards contract finalisation and ultimately the award of this contract, the successful implementation of which is crucial to the mission of the overall clean-up and decommissioning of the UK’s existing nuclear legacy.”

According to AMEC, NMP brings together a unique capability focused on delivering the NDA's aim and objectives at Sellafield. In particular, it said, the team has a strong safety culture, experience of delivering change and innovation and a track record of open and transparent engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, all of which meet NDA aims. Details on each of the alliance partners are set out at the end of this announcement.