Balfour Beatty, Cavendish Nuclear JV wins £160m Sellafield contract

A Balfour Beatty and Cavendish Nuclear joint venture has won a £160m contract for the third phase of construction of a new silo maintenance facility for Sellafield Ltd.

Working in a 45:55 joint venture, Balfour Beatty and Cavendish Nuclear (the UK’s largest supplier of specialist services to the nuclear industry, and a unit of Babcock International) will deliver the facility which will be an integral part of Sellafield’s long-term waste retrieval hazard reduction programme.

This final phase of works follows the first two phases consisting of a £5.5 million preliminary design phase and £12.5 million detailed design and enabling works.

The new mechanical handling plant will support two existing waste silos with retrieving historic waste and reducing hazard.  At the heart of the heavily reinforced concrete structure, which has a footprint of 0.5 hectares and will be 25 metres high, robotic installations will enable the Sellafield team to operate in a safe and controlled environment.

Balfour said it would bring a broad range of expertise to deliver the project including design, procurement, civil engineering, construction and mechanical and electrical capabilities. In addition, the company will provide fully integrated commissioning and pre-operations delivery strategy and will train Sellafield’s employees in operating the facility.

A team of more than 100 engineers including nuclear specialists, civil and structural engineers and architectural technicians is currently using Building Information Modelling to create a full 4D design specification that dramatically reduces the construction programme.   

Work is scheduled to complete in autumn 2017, and the project will employ over 300 people at the height of construction.

Balfour Beatty Executive Chairman, Steve Marshall said: “The UK infrastructure market includes significant opportunities for nuclear decommissioning and clean-up activities. Similarly, new nuclear build and the construction of new power generation projects will bring us an opportunity to deploy our extensive experience.

“Balfour Beatty has a strong heritage in the nuclear sector including our work across the existing fleet of UK nuclear power stations and our 35 year presence at Sellafield.  We look forward to working with Cavendish Nuclear to deliver a facility that will support Sellafield Ltd’s overall waste retrieval and hazard reduction programme.“