The initial phase of the contract will span two years and commence immediately. It will consist of concept design works and may be followed by a 4-year procurement construction and commissioning phase, due to start in mid 2012. The total project budget will exceed £250 million
– By Stephen Heiser –
AREVA, together with AMEC and Balfour Beatty in the HALEF Partnership has been awarded a contract by Sellafield Limited for a highly active effluent storage facility project.
The initial phase of the contract will span two years and commence immediately. It will consist of concept design works and may be followed by a 4-year procurement construction and commissioning phase, due to start in mid 2012. The total project budget will exceed £250 million.
The new facility will store radioactive effluents, which arise from nuclear processing operations. It comprises a series of high integrity highly active storage tanks in a seismically qualified reinforced concrete building.
Under the terms of the contract, AREVA will provide engineering management and process design services in addition to procurement and commissioning of highly active storage tanks and associated equipment.
On November 24, 2008 AREVA and its partners sealed a management and operations contract for the Sellafield site. Nuclear Management Partners (NMP), the joint venture comprising URS Washington Division, AMEC plc and AREVA, signed a contract for the management and operations of the Sellafield nuclear complex, located in West Cumbria, with the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). This success came at the end of a long and stringent selection process, with strong competition from Fluor/Toshiba, Bechtel/Serco/BWXT and CH2MHill.
The shares in Sellafield Ltd, the site licencee company, previously owned by British Nuclear Fuels Limited were transferred to NMP. As consequence, the NDA and Sellafield Ltd agreed a revised Management and Operations contract.
Sellafield Ltd manages and operates, on behalf of the NDA, the reprocessing and waste storage facilities at Sellafield, the former nuclear power stations Calder Hall and Windscale (all in West Cumbria), and the Capenhurst nuclear site and an Engineering Design Centre at Risley in Cheshire.
As a consequence, the NDA and Sellafield Ltd have agreed a revised Management and Operations contract.
The management and operation contract is initially for a period of five years with the potential of further extension periods, subject to performance, to a total of 17 years. This contract offers business initially to the value of around £1.3 billion per annum with associated fee of approximately £50 million per annum, subject to the specified level of improved performance and efficiency of Sellafield Ltd being met.
Anne Lauvergeon, AREVA Chief Executive Officer, said “This contract highlights the willingness of AREVA to be a reliable and a long term partner of the whole UK nuclear industry. We have long co-operated with Sellafield on waste management, transport and recycling, which are essential to a sustainable nuclear programme. AREVA is committed to supporting the development of nuclear new build in the United Kingdom, to supply secure, safe, low-carbon energy. We look forward to contributing to a nuclear renaissance in West Cumbria and the United Kingdom, which will bring global skills, training and supply chain benefits to local and national communities.”
This is AREVA's second success at the back-end of the fuel cycle in the United Kingdom. AREVA is also a partner in UK Nuclear Waste Management Ltd, which was awarded the Parent Body agreement for the UK’s Low Level Waste Repository in Cumbria in March 2008.