nuclear-news

There’s money to be made in nuclear decommissioning

Olympic Park builder eyes nuclear wind-down deal http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/olympic-park-builder-eyes-nuclear-winddown-deal-7965171.html MARK LEFTLY   MONDAY 23 JULY 2012 The US group that led construction of the Olympic Park and a New York-listed rival are the latest companies considering bids to oversee the UK’s £5bn nuclear decommissioning programme.

CH2M Hill, which worked on London 2012 as part of the Olympic Delivery
Partner team, and Aecom are both thought to be interested in buying
the UK business of Utah-based Energy Solutions. This operates and
decommissions Britain’s oldest nuclear reactors and has already
attracted a host of potential bidders, including US giant Bechtel and
FTSE 100 group Amec.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority wants a deal in place by the end
of next month. Goldman Sachs is believed to be handling the sale,
which would value the business at about £50m.

There are 12 sites — nine are Magnox stations that are at different
stages of decommissioning while a tenth, at Wylfa in Anglesey, is
expected to stop producing electricity in two years. The remaining
sites are former research centres where scientists experimented with
the UK’s earliest reactor designs.

A source close to the sale process said that CH2M Hill had the
necessary experience, having cleaned up and closed a huge nuclear
facility in Rocky Flats, Colorado, while Aecom is well-regarded in
nuclear new build and decommissioning.

The sale happens as interest in Horizon, which will invest £15bn in
new nuclear plants in Anglesey and Gloucestershire, heats up. The
government’s plans for the next generation of nuclear plants seemed in
tatters when German utilities RWE and E.on said they were selling
Horizon, but two Chinese state-owned outfits are interested in buying
the joint venture.

July 23, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | decommission reactor, UK