Karl Herchenroeder
RW Monitor
01/29/16
A partnership of four companies has been confirmed to support decommissioning of Britain’s Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing and decommissioning site, with a stipulation that the group funnel an estimated £500 million into a socioeconomic benefits package expected to create 1,140 jobs per year until 2025.
Located in Cumbria, England, Sellafield is one of Europe’s largest nuclear sites. The four partners combined manage a combined 12 companies, 11 of which are based in Cumbria. All 12 have committed at least 20 percent of their subcontracting spending to small and medium-sized companies, according to a Sellafield Ltd. press release.
“Our first priority will always be the safe, secure and cost-effective clean-up of Sellafield,” Sellafield Ltd. Managing Director Paul Foster said in the statement. “But alongside that is a commitment to help deliver a long-term, sustainable economic future for our local community. (This partnership) will help achieve this by placing socioeconomic outcomes at the heart of the contract from the outset and by holding contractors to account on delivery.”
The companies that signed on include: Integrated Decommissioning Solutions, the Nexus Decommissioning Alliance, Cumbria Nuclear Solutions Ltd., and the Decommissioning Alliance.
The companies have also pledged to take a “locals first” recruitment approach, with one consortium aiming for a 95 percent Cumbrian workforce. Of the estimated 1,140 jobs, 150 are expected to go to “under-represented or disadvantaged” people, and the partnership also plans to create 240 apprenticeships.
According to the announcement, there is extra “headroom” in the framework of the existing partnership and the total investment could end up totaling as much as £1.5 billion over the 10-year period.
Sellafield Ltd. Names New Board Chairman
Energy industry veteran Tony Fountain will become the new chairman of the Sellafield Ltd. board on April 1, the U.K. National Decommissioning Authority (NDA) announced last week. That is the date at which the firm that operates the Sellafield site will become a wholly owned NDA subsidiary.
Fountain’s 30-year career includes a number of executive positions with oil and gas giant BP and managing the refining and marketing operations of India-based conglomerate Reliance Industries, according to a Jan. 13 NDA press release. He also served as NDA chief executive officer from 2009 to 2011.
Fountain will replace present Sellafield board Chair Tony Price.
“The position of the Sellafield Ltd chair is a hugely important one requiring someone of considerable experience in industry and first class leadership skills,” NDA Chair Stephen Henwood said in the release. “Having scoured the international market we are delighted to have secured Tony Fountain’s services. Tony will be a huge asset to Sellafield Ltd in overseeing its delivery of the NDA’s decommissioning mission at Sellafield, the most challenging across our estate.”
Sellafield accounts for 60 percent of the total NDA budget.
NDA Looks for More Efficiency at Sellafield
Though Sellafield Ltd. has secured a £2 billion budget for 2016-17, it said recently that it will need to find further financial efficiency in order deliver the work it has planned for the upcoming year.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority granted the budget request in its government spending review, which was published this month as part of the NDA’s draft business plan. The agency manages cleanup of 17 sites — 14 in England and Wales and three in Scotland. Sellafield’s 2016-17 budget represents a 5 percent increase from the current financial year’s £1.9 billion. The budget year begins in April.
“This level of funding for Sellafield reflects tremendous support from government and this will enable us to make vital progress on cleaning up the high hazard facilities at Sellafield, particularly the legacy ponds and silos,” NDA CEO John Clarke said in a Jan. 21 statement. “But we have made an unequivocal commitment to government that in return we will expect Sellafield Ltd to place the greatest possible emphasis on value for money.”
