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Press release
16th January 2006
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
(UKAEA), AMEC plc and CH2M HILL have formed an important new
alliance to target opportunities in the UK's £56 billion (£2bn
a year) nuclear clean up market. The alliance heralds the start
of an open and competitive market in UK civil nuclear decommissioning
and responds to the government's landmark decision to open
this market to competition
The alliance will initially target selected
sites among the UK's 20 civil nuclear sites which are now being opened
to competition by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
Around half of these are expected to be bid by the end of 2008.
Beyond this market, the partners will explore further international
opportunities such as the multi-billion pound market in Eastern
Europe and the Former Soviet Union, building on the alliance
partners' experience in these regions.
The move will enable UKAEA, a public
sector company that has historically led a significant share
of the UK's nuclear
clean-up work, to compete on a new and stronger basis in this
evolving market.
Dipesh Shah, Chief Executive Officer
of UKAEA, said "UKAEA
has led the way in decommissioning in this country, including
the complete dismantling of 15 of our 26 research reactors, and
accelerated programmes for our sites resulting in very substantial
savings on lifetime costs."
"The UK decommissioning market is now opening up to competition,
and it is our aim to maintain our leading role. That is why we
sought partners who can complement our skills. UKAEA's
private sector partners were chosen from over 70 applicants to
create a strong, exclusive and international team. "This
alliance complements our own skills and deep knowledge of operating
UK licensed sites with AMEC's commercial and programme
management skills and CH2M HILL's impressive track record
in many of the largest and most complex decommissioning projects
in the USA. We are now ready to take on all comers."
Sir Peter Mason, chief executive of AMEC,
said: "This
alliance shows that the NDA's mission of bringing private
sector expertise and competition into the UK's civil nuclear
market is working. This team has the right blend of nuclear and
commercial skills to win a sizeable slice of the £2 billion
a year market."
Ralph Peterson, President and Chief Executive
of CH2M HILL, said: "We look forward to providing the NDA with a compelling
option that delivers real value for money. We bring to the alliance
a track record of saving the US Department of Energy billions
of dollars in safely decommissioning major US nuclear sites.
For example, we recently completed the decommissioning of Rocky
Flats, the world's first major weapons facility to be cleaned
up and closed, delivering the programme years ahead of schedule
with huge resultant savings."
AMEC and CH2M HILL will immediately second expert staff to join
the teams working on UKAEA sites. In October 2004, UKAEA announced
accelerated plans for cleaning up its sites, and the seconded
staff will help to deliver these programmes and identify further
opportunities for acceleration.
Ends
Contacts:
UKAEA
Andy Munn, Chief Press Officer +44
(0)1235 436900, +44 (0)7889 709516
AMEC plc
Charles Reynolds, Head of Media Relations +44
(0)20 7634 0024
Harold Ashurst, AMEC Nuclear Media Relations +44
(0)1565 684503
CH2M HILL
Dick Harbert, Managing Director +44
(0)207 4716100
John Corsi, Director Corporate Communications +1
720 286 2087
Notes to Editors:
UKAEA
UKAEA is responsible for the clean-up of its former nuclear research
sites at Dounreay, Windscale, Harwell and Winfrith. It also
carries out the national fusion research programme at Culham,
and manages the international JET facility there – the
world's leading fusion project.
With more than 50 years of experience in nuclear site management,
it has proven capability in dealing with some of the nuclear
industry's oldest and most complex facilities, and in all
phases of site restoration – from programme planning, facility
decommissioning, waste management and land remediation, through
to release for regeneration. Since April 2005, UKAEA has worked
under contract to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on its
nuclear sites. In October 2004 it announced plans for cleaning-up
its sites which accelerated the decommissioning by up to 35 years
resulting in savings in cost estimates of over £1 billion.
UKAEA is amongst the portfolio of government owned businesses
managed on behalf of the government by the Shareholder Executive.
AMEC plc is an international
project management and services company that designs, delivers
and supports infrastructure assets for customers worldwide
across the public and private sectors. AMEC employs 44,000
people in more than 40 countries, generating annual revenues
of around £5 billion. AMEC's
shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange where the company
is listed in the Support Services sector (LSE: AMEC.L).
AMEC Nuclear, which
employs more than 1,000 people, is the largest UK-based private
sector supplier of programme management and engineering services
to the nuclear sector. The business was formed following the
acquisition of NNC Holdings Ltd in July 2005 and builds on
AMEC's 50 years experience
in the nuclear market. AMEC Nuclear's clients include BNFL,
British Energy, UKAEA, AWE Aldermaston and a wide range of international
nuclear utilities.
AMEC was recently awarded the Cdn$510 million (£245 million)
project management contract to restart two nuclear reactors at
the Bruce A power station in Ontario, Canada.
AMEC also has a major nuclear waste management contract in the
US, where its proprietary technology, GeoMelt, is being used
to vitrify intermediate level nuclear waste at the vast Hanford
complex in Washington State .
CH2M HILL
CH2M HILL has its headquarters in Denver Colorado. It is an employee-owned
firm, providing engineering, construction, operations and related
technical services to public and private clients on a global
basis. With more than $3 billion in revenue, CH2M HILL is an
industry-leading programme management, nuclear decommissioning,
construction management for fee and design firm. The firm's
work is concentrated in the areas of nuclear services, transportation,
water, energy, environment, communications, construction and
industrial facilities. CH2M HILL has more than 15,000 employees
operating in regional offices around the world. The firm's
European/Middle East headquarters is in London.
NDA Sites
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is responsible for the
UK's civil nuclear liabilities. UKAEA and British Nuclear
Group are contracted by the NDA to manage these sites but it
is the intention to compete these Management and Operations
contracts. The 20 NDA decommissioning sites are:
Dounreay, Windscale, Harwell, Culham JET, Winfrith Sellafield,
Drigg, Capenhurst, Springfields Berkeley, Bradwell, Calder Hall,
Chapelcross, Dungeness A, Hinkley Point A, Hunterston A, Oldbury,
Sizewell A, Trawsfynydd, Wylfa |
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