Balfour Beatty plc today announces that its joint venture with AMEC and Jacobs has been appointed to a framework contract to provide a new nuclear waste processing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria, UK.
The three way, equal, joint venture will be the sole contractor on the four year framework with Sellafield Limited which is worth between £240 million and £336 million to construct the new ‘Box Encapsulation Plant’ which will receive, segregate and encapsulate hazardous waste already stored on the Sellafield site.
The processing plant is part of Sellafield’s wider programme to prepare hazardous nuclear waste for storage and disposal. It will also process waste recovered from other facilities on the Sellafield site once they are decommissioned.
The joint venture will be responsible for the complete life cycle of the scheme from design, engineering, procurement, installation and construction management through to commissioning and handover. Balfour Beatty’s Major Projects business will provide a broad range of expertise including civil engineering, construction and mechanical and electrical capabilities, and supply chain management. Building Information Modelling will support accelerated delivery by integrating design and construction information within the construction programme to optimise planning and co-ordination.
Work is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2014. The joint venture is committed to engaging local small and medium sized businesses in the supply chain and employing local apprentices and trainees.
Balfour Beatty UK construction Chief Executive Officer Nicholas Pollard said: “Balfour Beatty has a strong heritage in the nuclear sector including a 35 year presence at Sellafield. This is an important project to reduce hazardous waste across the Sellafield site and Balfour Beatty and our partners will draw upon and share our extensive experience of safely delivering major nuclear facilities. This latest award underscores Balfour Beatty’s success and capability in the UK power sector. ”
Last week, Balfour Beatty was appointed by Magnox to deliver the £34m Solid Intermediate Level Waste Encapsulation contract at Hunterston A former power station in North Ayrshire. The project marks the final link in Magnox’s process chain of safely encapsulating and storing intermediate level waste as part of the decommissioning of the nuclear power plant. Balfour Beatty will be responsible for the final design of the encapsulation process and construction of the plant including the complex mechanical, electrical control and instrumentation required.
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Notes to editors:
1. Also at Sellafield, Balfour Beatty and its joint venture partner Cavendish Nuclear are constructing the £160 million Silos Maintenance Facility, a mechanical handling nuclear facility. Earlier this year, and in alliance with Sellafield Limited and Doosan Babcock, we recently completed construction of the £240 million Sludge Packaging Plant.
Elsewhere in the nuclear sector, Balfour Beatty is one of two contractors delivering the £288m framework for construction, infrastructure and maintenance projects across all ten nuclear sites operated by nuclear contractor Magnox. The company is also delivering a £17 million contract to provide electrical, control and instrumentation at the URENCO uranium enrichment facility in the Wirral.
2. Balfour Beatty (www.balfourbeatty.com) is an international infrastructure group that delivers world class services essential to the development, creation and care of infrastructure assets; from finance and development, through design and project management to construction and maintenance.
Our businesses draw on more than 100 years of experience to deliver the highest levels of quality, safety and technical expertise to our clients principally in the UK and the USA, with developing businesses in Australia, Canada, the Middle East, South Africa and South East Asia. With proven expertise in delivering infrastructure critical to support communities and society today and in the future, our key market sectors focus on infrastructure - transportation (roads, rail and aviation), power and energy, water, and complex buildings (both commercial and social).
Balfour Beatty employs 40,000 people around the world.
