The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has announced its intention to extend the Sellafield contract with Nuclear Management Partners (the consortium comprising of URS, AMEC and Areva) into a second five year period. The first 5 year period of the 17 year contract comes to an end in March 2014.
The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has announced its intention to extend the Sellafield contract with Nuclear Management Partners (the consortium comprising of URS, AMEC and Areva) into a second five year period. The first 5 year period of the 17 year contract comes to an end in March 2014.
Commenting on the decision, NDA CEO, John Clarke, said: "Sellafield is by far the most complex and challenging site in our portfolio, and we are determined to drive improved performance at the site. We have reviewed progress under the contract to date and concluded that the right decision is to extend the contract to give NMP further time to bring about the improvements in capability and performance at the site that we and they are looking for."
NMP won the competition to act as the parent body organisation for Sellafield Limited in 2008. Sellafield Limited is the site licence company which employs 10,000 people to manage and operate the Sellafield site under contract to the NDA.
"Both NMP and the NDA now have a much better understanding of the issues and complexities that exist at the site and the challenges that lie ahead. Whilst progress is being made on a number of fronts we will require significant improvements during the next period. We have had extensive discussions with NMP and made clear where these improvements must be made. We will continue to monitor performance closely and remain focussed on achieving our goal of safe, effective, value for money decommissioning at Sellafield – as we are seeing elsewhere across our portfolio of sites."
"We look forward to working with the Sellafield management team to support them in the successful implementation of their plans, and we remain committed to exploring ways to maximise the local economic benefits of the enormous £1.8 billion annual expenditure programme at the site."
Tom Zarges, Chairman of NMP, said: "The task at Sellafield is unprecedented. We have learnt an enormous amount about the challenges of the site and the areas that we need to focus on looking forward. We believe we are well placed to build on our progress to date and deliver improved performance in the next period."