Magnox awards construction contract

Thursday, 6 September 2012

Two companies have won a framework contract worth nearly £300 million ($477 million) for construction work at ten UK sites as former Magnox plants are prepared to enter care and maintenance.

Construction work under way at Trawsfynydd (Image: Magnox)

Magnox Ltd, which operates the sites on behalf of the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, awarded the contract to Costain Group and Balfour Beatty. Between them, the companies will deliver design, construction and maintenance of permanent buildings and structures, infrastructure maintenance and extension work incorporating construction and civil engineering structures and ground work projects. 

Magnox is responsible for Wylfa, the only UK Magnox reactor which is still generating electricity, as well as sites at Oldbury, Chapelcross, Dungeness A, Sizewell A, Hunterston A, Berkeley, Hinkley Point A, Bradwell and Trawsfynydd. The framework contract is worth around £30 million ($48 million) per year for up to ten years: an initial five years, with an option to extend for a further five years by mutual agreement by the parties.

Magnox program director Alan Bladon explained the importance of construction, infrastructure and maintenance work in preparing the sites to enter a state of care and maintenance. "Most people associate decommissioning with demolition, but there is also a requirement to build additional facilities which will help reduce the hazards associated with the legacy from nuclear generation on our sites," he said.

Both Costain and Balfour Beatty have a history of undertaking work at UK nuclear sites. Balfour Beatty is trying to increase its involvement in power-related markets, and chief executive Ian Tyler said his company was delighted to have won the contract. "Our role in the framework highlights Balfour Beatty's strengths in the design, delivery and maintenance of infrastructure assets in the power sector," he said.

Costain chief executive Andrew Wyllie said the selection of his company for the role was "testament to our growing reputation for providing specialized engineering solutions to customers and industry sectors which have highly complex requirements." In 2011, Costain was one of six companies to be awarded a framework contract by Magnox to provide waste retrieval, processing and filling services at eight of their nuclear power plant sites as part of a joint venture with Amec and Jacobs Engineering Group.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News