British Nuclear Group’s specialist decommissioning business, Project Services, and Fluor Limited, the UK operating arm of Fluor Corp, have secured a contract with the Russian Foundation for Environmental Safety of Power Engineering to assist with the decommissioning of the retired Russian nuclear-powered naval fleet and associated spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste management near the Barents Sea ports of Murmansk and Archangelsk.

The initial scope of work will include establishing a computer-based management tool to help guide the implementation of a comprehensive strategic master plan and providing project management and decommissioning technical support to the Russian Federation’s efforts to develop an integrated work programme for the decommissioning of nuclear submarines and service vessels, the management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, and the environmental rehabilitation of radioactively contaminated sites in northwest Russia.

The contract will see Fluor and British Nuclear Group working alongside Rosatom as it develops the Russian Federation’s programme for cleaning up the Soviet navy’s nuclear legacy in a programme funded by the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP) Support Fund, managed by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) with contributions from Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United Kingdom and a donation of Belgium.

The contract provides British Nuclear Group and Fluor a crucial strategic foothold in the clean-up of Russia’s nuclear legacy, an emerging market that is expected to be worth billions of pounds.