Cavendish Fluor takes over UK nuclear sites
Cavendish Fluor Partnership (CFP) has been formally awarded the contract by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to manage 12 UK nuclear sites and their respective decommissioning programs.
CFP has now become the new parent body organization (PBO) for site licence companies Magnox Limited and Research Sites Restoration Limited (RSRL). Between them, Magnox Limited and RSRL are responsible for ten Magnox nuclear power plants, as well as the Harwell and Winfrith research centres. The sites are all owned by the NDA, which uses the PBO system to grant private companies the authority necessary to take charge of nuclear decommissioning. Successful contractors earn a fee that is a portion of the overall contract value, depending on performance.
CFP is a joint venture between the UK's Cavendish Nuclear, part of Babcock International, and US-based Fluor Corporation. Under the 14-year contract, it is expected to deliver the 12 sites to an agreed and defined point for each (either interim end state or into care and maintenance). Babcock International said, "Allowing for changes to the bid scope, the total contract value is expected to be around £4.2 billion ($7 billion)."
The NDA said that the contract will save UK taxpayers more than £1.5 billion, based on current estimates of work. However, it said these savings "may be subject to future variations in inflation levels, government funding decisions and revisions to the scope of the work" over the duration of the contract.
The NDA announced at the end of March 2014 that it had selected CFP as the preferred bidder for the contract, which had attracted bids from several firms in various consortia, including Energy Solutions which teamed with Bechtel for the opportunity.
Energy Solutions has filed a legal writ claiming that the NDA failed to follow UK public procurement regulations during the two-year bidding process. However, the NDA maintains that the competition process was carried out in a robust manner in full compliance with all EU and UK regulations and guidelines.
Since March there has been "a major program to conduct a seamless handover from the two PBOs to a new one - including the introduction of the new management team to the SLC management and workforce, and stakeholder engagement, as well as the completion of 'due diligence' on the site lifetime plans," Cavendish Nuclear said. It added that this had been carried out "with minimal impact on the existing teams and continuity of work taking place at the 12 sites."
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
