Engineering news
Sellafield announced a joint venture comprising of Jacobs, AMEC and Balfour Beatty has been awarded a multi-million pound framework contract to provide a new nuclear waste processing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria, UK.
The three way joint venture will be the sole contractor on the four year framework with Sellafield Limited, which is worth between £240 million and £336 million.
The firms will construct the new box encapsulation plant (BEP) which will treat and encapsulate hazardous waste from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo (MSSS) and prepare it for long term storage.
In addition the BEP may also process waste recovered during the decommissioning of other significant Sellafield facilities including the First General Magnox Storage Pond (FGMSP) and the Pile Fuel Storage Pond (PFSP).
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. Work is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Balfour Beatty UK construction chief executive Nicholas Pollard said: “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.”
Balfour Beatty was last week appointed another significant contract 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 mechanical, electrical control and instrumentation required.
However, Balfour Beatty has issued another profit warning stating that there will be a further shortfall of £75 million this year in its UK construction services division, following two profit warnings earlier this year.
The firm said it is appointing accountants KPMG to undertake a “detailed independent review” of its contract portfolio. Balfour Beatty added that the process to appoint a new chief executive is now at advanced stages and an announcement will be made soon.