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Cavendish Fluor Partnership has been named the Preferred Bidder in the competition to take ownership of Magnox Ltd and Research Sites Restoration Ltd (RSRL).

Cavendish Fluor Partnership is a specially created joint venture between Cavendish Nuclear and Fluor Corporation.

Three other consortia were invited for final bids for the £6-7 billion project to oversee decommissioning activities at the Magnox/RSRL sites for a 14-year term in October 2013 were: Reactor Site Solutions, comprising Bechtel and EnergySolutions, CAS Restoration Partnership, which includes CH2M Hill, Areva, Serco and the UK Nuclear Restoration Ltd, made up of AMEC, Atkins and Rolls Royce.

A mandatory standstill period and a five-month transition phase now follow while the contract between the NDA and Cavendish Fluor Partnership is finalised and all legal processes are completed. During the transition period, members of the new executive team will introduce themselves to the workforce and the current management team.

Following successful transition, Cavendish Fluor Partnership will become the new Parent Body Organisation and take ownership via the transfer of shares of two site licence companies, Magnox Ltd and RSRL, on 1st September 2014. Until this point, the current PBOs will remain in charge and the three remaining bids will also be held in reserve.

The competition was based on the key criteria of securing the highest standards of safety and environmental performance, together with value for money for the UK taxpayer.

John Clarke, NDA Chief Executive, said: "The selection of Cavendish Fluor Partnership as the preferred bidder is a significant step in our drive to attract world-class management and innovation to our sites.

"We have undergone a comprehensive and rigorous process aimed at securing the best possible parent body for these challenging sites. Cavendish Fluor Partnership bring a successful track record and extensive nuclear experience that will bring enormous benefits to the decommissioning and clean-up programme."

Magnox Ltd is responsible for decommissioning 10 Magnox reactor sites, located in England, Scotland and Wales, which were the first generation of civil nuclear power plants in the UK built during the 1950s and 60s. RSRL is responsible for decommissioning two pioneering nuclear research centres at Harwell and Winfrith. The incumbent PBOs, EnergySolutions and UKAEA, will hand over to the new PBO on 1st September 2014.

The publicly-funded Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is responsible for the decommissioning and clean-up of 19 UK civil nuclear sites. Established in 2005, the NDA does not directly manage the sites but contracts delivery of work programmes to Site Licence Companies (SLCs), who are responsible for day-to-day operations. Each SLC has a Parent Body Organisation (PBO), which owns the shares in that SLC for the duration of the contract with the NDA.

The NDA's total planned expenditure for 2013/2014 is £3.2 billion, of which £2.3 billion will be funded by UK Government and £0.9 billion by income from commercial operations.

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Photo: Wylfa on Anglesea, Wales (Courtesy Magnox Ltd)

 

Date: Monday, 31 March 2014
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newscavendish-fluor-partnership-preferred-bidder-for-uk-magnox-decommissioning-4206253