Sellafield Ltd unveils socioeconomic investment plan
The UK's Sellafield Ltd has arranged GBP500 million ($715 million) of socioeconomic investment via a Decommissioning Delivery Partnership (DDP) framework. The package includes jobs, apprenticeships and work for small- and medium-sized businesses.
Sellafield Ltd describes the arrangement as possibly the UK's first ever public procurement that guarantees benefits for the community. It said that independent data analysis of the framework has found that 1140 jobs a year could be created or supported during the 10-year contract period.
Tom Foster, chief decommissioning officer at Sellafield Ltd, said the DDP is going to be a crucial part of the company's mission to reduce the risk on the Sellafield site "by getting waste out of high-hazard facilities as soon as possible".
Foster added: "Everyone in the framework is committed to achieving the best possible socio-economic outcomes in areas such as building skills for young people and ensuring small- to medium-sized enterprises also benefit from this major investment in decommissioning the site."
The work to be carried out under the DDP has already been mapped out as part of Sellafield's existing performance plan. But there is "extra headroom" in the framework of up to GBP1.5 billion, it said, depending on how Sellafield Ltd prioritises and delivers its work.
The first four confirmed 'delivery partners' - made up of 12 companies - will enter a 10-year agreement to support Sellafield Ltd staff on the decommissioning of its site in Cumbria, England. Of the 12 selected companies, 11 are based in, or have a significant presence in, Cumbria. All have committed at least 20% of their sub-contracting spend with small- to medium-sized enterprises.
Working as part of four consortia or joint ventures, the selected companies are working with Sellafield Ltd to finalise the details of their "socioeconomic commitments", Sellafield Ltd said yesterday. Framework agreements are also being finalised with two other consortia that were successful in the initial tendering process, and they will be confirmed once legal and commercial arrangements are in place, it added.
Delivery partners
The delivery partners confirmed so far are: Integrated Decommissioning Solutions - comprising Energy Solutions EU Ltd, Hertel (UK) Ltd, North West Projects Ltd and Westlakes Engineering Ltd; the Nexus Decommissioning Alliance - Costain Oil, Gas and Process; Cumbria Nuclear Solutions Ltd (CNSL) - Shepley Engineers, James Fisher Nuclear Ltd, REACT Engineering Ltd, Jacobs Stobbarts, Westinghouse Electric Company UK Ltd, WYG Engineering Ltd; and the Decommissioning Alliance - Jacobs UK Ltd, Energy Solutions EU Limited, Westinghouse Electric Company UK Ltd.
Selected to conduct decommissioning activities under two separate Decommissioning Framework Agreements, Westinghouse said in a separate statement that the contracts build upon the success it has already had at Sellafield in reducing risk and hazard at the First Generation Magnox Storage Pond.
John Kipling, Westinghouse head of UK Decommissioning, Decontamination and Waste Management, said these two contracts were significant for Westinghouse, "as they strengthen the future of our UK business and demonstrate recognition of our technological capabilities in decommissioning". The contract commitments will be delivered by Westinghouse in West Cumbria, with support from the wider Westinghouse UK team based at Springfields and Chorley, Kipling added.
Jacobs said the 10-year framework enables the consortium to work collaboratively with Sellafield Ltd to provide a strategic approach to project and program planning and delivery. It also allows the supply chain to "help shape work packages that bring better value and drive accelerated delivery", it said.
Alan Seywright, Jacobs vice president for UK Nuclear and Defence, said, extending its collaboration to include its supply chain is a "further important factor in delivering our innovative approach".
Jacobs employs over 600 people across Cumbria, of which 90% live locally. It received the West Cumbrian Community Heroes Award for Large Sustainable Business of the Year in 2015.
Pledges
The selected companies have pledged to adopt a 'local first' recruitment approach, give 150 jobs to 'under-represented or disadvantaged' people, create up to 240 new apprenticeships, and provide training, school outreach and business mentoring. These commitments will be written into the contract, meaning companies would lose out financially if they fail to deliver, Sellafield Ltd said.
Paul Foster, managing director of Sellafield Ltd, said the DDP will place "socioeconomic outcomes at the heart of the contract from the outset and by holding contractors to account on delivery".
He added: "We have listened to our stakeholders and worked with government, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and our supply chain to design a responsible, sustainable procurement that uses public sector contracts to unlock investment from the private sector, backed up by the power of a legally binding contract."
From 1 April, the NDA is to take ownership of Sellafield Ltd, as part of reforms to management of the site announced in January last year. The decision meant that private consortium Nuclear Management Partners (NMP) lost its GBP9 billion contract as the site's Parent Body Organisation (PBO). As the Site Licence Company operating the site under the ownership of the PBO, Sellafield Ltd said its clean up mission and strategy remain unchanged "at the day-to-day operational level".
Sellafield Ltd said last week that it plans to make efficiency savings to be able to work within its GBP2 billion budget for the next financial year as the site "enters the most crucial period in its modern history". The NDA secured the sum for Sellafield Ltd as part of the government's Spending Review, announced in November last year.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
