Balfour Beatty and Babcock JV wins construction contract with Sellafield

25th Jun 2014 07:44

Balfour Beatty's joint venture (JV) with Babcock International's wholly-owned Cavendish Nuclear has been contracted for the third phase of the construction of a £160m maintenance facility at the biggest nuclear plant in the UK.The JV will build the mechanical handling plant for nuclear waste management group Sellafield, following on from the first two phases of work undertaken by the partnership in preparation for the new facility.Completion of the first two phases included the £5.5m concept and preliminary design phase, and the £12.5m detailed design and enabling works phase, Babcock explained.Balfour, which holds a 45% stake in the JV, said it will provide fully integrated commissioning and pre-operations delivery strategy and will train Sellafield's employees in operating the facility. Balfour Beatty's Executive Chairman, Steve Marshall, said that the UK infrastructure market offered the company "significant opportunities for nuclear decommissioning and clean-up activities". "Built to exacting nuclear standards, it will provide for receipt, decontamination, inspection, maintenance and storage of retrieval equipment," Babcock added. Work is due to be completed in autumn 2017.