The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority plans to complete a five-month transition by Sept. 1 for the new Magnox contract to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership. The NDA announced yesterday its selection of the joint venture between Fluor Corporation and U.K.-based Babcock subsidiary Cavendish Nuclear to manage the 10 Magnox reactor sites and two research reactor sites under a new parent-body organization. The NDA expects £1 billion in savings from its selection. “We have undergone a comprehensive and rigorous process aimed at securing the best possible parent body for these challenging sites. Cavendish Fluor Partnership bring a successful track record and extensive nuclear experience that will bring enormous benefits to the decommissioning and clean-up programme,” NDA CEO John Clarke said in a statement.
But Gary Smith of the U.K. labor union GMB questioned the government’s overall strategy. “We look forward to meeting the new contractors. We know Fluor have strong tradition of training in the UK and we deal with Cavendish elsewhere on the nuclear estate. We remain of the view that the UK government has no coherent strategy for nuclear,” he said, adding that it is unclear how the U.K. industry “is going to benefit in the global market for skills in nuclear decommissioning and construction.” The U.K. labor union Prospect noted that the importance of benefits to local communicates in the procurement. “These communities have done so much to support the industry over the past 50 years. We are pleased that the Cavendish Fluor Partnership have not shied away from that and included specific commitments on local investment in their winning bid,” Prospect National Secretary Gill Wood said in a statement.
