UK firms can reap rewards of nuclear building boom

carol.millett@rbi.co.uk

British contractors are capable of delivering more than 80% of the new generation of nuclear power plants given the go-ahead by the government last week, according to research by the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA).

The research looked at what opportunities the new programme would offer UK firms. Its findings augur well for British contractors. A NIA spokesman told CJ: "This new-build programme is certainly good news for the UK supply chain, which could deliver around 70% to 80% of the work."

The study was carried out by a NIA working party, including Amec, Costain, Sir Robert McAlpine, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Mitsui Babcock. It looked at the UK's supply chain capability of delivering a new build Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR), breaking the process into 60 work packages. The UK programme is expected to deliver up to 10 reactors on five sites.

The research concluded that the UK construction industry had both the skills and capacity to deliver at least 70%, and with further skills training, more than 80% of the new build programme.

British Energy, which is expected to commission four new reactors on four of its existing sites, said it is already carrying out an assessment of potential construction suppliers.

A spokeswoman told CJ: "British Energy is carrying out its own assessments on potential partners and this includes an assessment of who will build these reactors." She added: "We are also committed to using the skills of the local workforce around our sites who are already familiar with the industry."

Likely contenders to build the new plants include Laing O'Rourke, Skanska and Balfour Beatty. Amec is also squaring up for a slice of the action. An Amec spokesman said: "As Amec has worked on every reactor build in the UK, we would hope to play a major role in the form of technical support and programme and project management."

Smaller firms are also hopeful of picking up various packages of work. A spokesman for Interserve, which carries out building and nuclear decommissioning work for British Energy, said: "There is a possibility we may undertake some elements of the work so long as it is within our range. Our ceiling is around £120m, so if a specific programme came in under that, we would be interested."