16th Jan 2006 07:01
AMEC PLC16 January 2006 AMEC plc Major new alliance is first to compete in UK nuclear market The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), AMEC plc and CH2M HILL haveformed an important new alliance to target opportunities in the UK's £56 billion(£2 billion a year) nuclear clean up market. The alliance heralds the start ofan open and competitive market in UK civil nuclear decommissioning and respondsto the government's landmark decision to open this market to competition. The alliance will initially target selected sites among the UK's 20 civilnuclear sites which are now being opened to competition by the NuclearDecommissioning Authority (NDA). Around half of these are expected to be bid bythe end of 2008. Beyond this market, the partners will explore furtherinternational opportunities such as the multi-billion pound market in EasternEurope and the Former Soviet Union, building on the alliance partners'experience in these regions. The move will enable UKAEA, a public sector company that has historically led asignificant share of the UK's nuclear clean-up work, to compete on a new andstronger basis in this evolving market. Dipesh Shah, Chief Executive Officer of UKAEA, said "UKAEA has led the way indecommissioning in this country, including the complete dismantling of 15 of our26 research reactors, and accelerated programmes for our sites resulting in verysubstantial savings on lifetime costs." "The UK decommissioning market is now opening up to competition, and it is ouraim to maintain our leading role. That is why we sought partners who cancomplement our skills. UKAEA's private sector partners were chosen from over 70applicants to create a strong, exclusive and international team. This alliancecomplements our own skills and deep knowledge of operating UK licensed siteswith AMEC's commercial and programme management skills and CH2M HILL'simpressive track record in many of the largest and most complex decommissioningprojects in the USA. We are now ready to take on all comers." Sir Peter Mason, chief executive of AMEC, said: "This alliance shows that theNDA's mission of bringing private sector expertise and competition into the UK'scivil nuclear market is working. This team has the right blend of nuclear andcommercial skills to win a sizeable slice of the £2 billion a year market." Ralph Peterson, President and Chief Executive of CH2M HILL, said: "We lookforward to providing the NDA with a compelling option that delivers real valuefor money. We bring to the alliance a track record of saving the US Departmentof Energy billions of dollars in safely decommissioning major US nuclear sites.For example, we recently completed the decommissioning of Rocky Flats, theworld's first major weapons facility to be cleaned up and closed, delivering theprogramme years ahead of schedule with huge resultant savings." AMEC and CH2M HILL will immediately second expert staff to join the teamsworking on UKAEA sites. In October 2004, UKAEA announced accelerated plans forcleaning up its sites, and the seconded staff will help to deliver theseprogrammes and identify further opportunities for acceleration. Ends Contacts AMEC plc Analysts/Investors: +44 (0) 20 7634 0000Neil Jamieson, Director of Investor Relations Media: +44 (0) 20 7634 0024Juliet Sychrava, Director of Corporate CommunicationsCharles Reynolds, Head of Media Relations UKAEA Andy Munn, Chief Press Officer +44 (0)1235 436900 +44 (0)7889 709516 CH2M HILL Dick Harbert, Managing Director +44 (0)207 4716100John Corsi, Director Corporate Communications +1 720 286 2087 Note to Editors: AMEC plcAMEC plc is an international project management and services company thatdesigns, delivers and supports infrastructure assets for customers worldwideacross the public and private sectors. AMEC employs 44,000 people in more than40 countries, generating annual revenues of around £5 billion. AMEC's shares aretraded on the London Stock Exchange where the company is listed in the SupportServices sector (LSE: AMEC.L). AMEC Nuclear, which employs more than 1,000 people, is the largest UK-basedprivate sector supplier of programme management and engineering services to thenuclear sector. The business was formed following the acquisition of NNCHoldings Ltd in July 2005 and builds on AMEC's 50 years experience in thenuclear market. AMEC Nuclear's clients include BNFL, British Energy, UKAEA, AWEAldermaston and a wide range of international nuclear utilities. AMEC was recently awarded the Cdn$510 million (£245 million) project managementcontract to restart two nuclear reactors at the Bruce A power station in Ontario, Canada. AMEC also has a major nuclear waste management contract in theUS, where its proprietary technology, GeoMelt, is being used to vitrifyintermediate level nuclear waste at the vast Hanford complex in WashingtonState. UKAEA UKAEA is responsible for the clean-up of its former nuclear research sites atDounreay, Windscale, Harwell and Winfrith. It also carries out the nationalfusion research programme at Culham, and manages the international JET facilitythere - the world's leading fusion. With more than 50 years of experience in nuclear site management, it has provencapability in dealing with some of the nuclear industry's oldest and mostcomplex facilities, and in all phases of site restoration - from programmeplanning, facility decommissioning, waste management and land remediation,through to release for regeneration. Since April 2005, UKAEA has worked undercontract to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on its nuclear sites. InOctober 2004 it announced plans for cleaning-up its sites which accelerated thedecommissioning by up to 35 years resulting in savings in cost estimates of over£1 billion. UKAEA is amongst the portfolio of government owned businesses managed on behalfof the government by the Shareholder Executive. CH2M HILL CH2M HILL has its headquarters in Denver Colorado. It is an employee-owned firm,providing engineering, construction, operations and related technical servicesto public and private clients on a global basis. With more than $3 billion inrevenue, CH2M HILL is an industry-leading programme management, nucleardecommissioning, construction management for fee and design firm. The firm'swork is concentrated in the areas of nuclear services, transportation, water,energy, environment, communications, construction and industrial facilities.CH2M HILL has more than 15,000 employees operating in regional offices aroundthe world. The firm's European/Middle East headquarters is in London. NDA Sites The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is responsible for the UK's civil nuclearliabilities. UKAEA and British Nuclear Group are contracted by the NDA to managethese sites but it is the intention to compete these Management and Operationscontracts. The 20 NDA decommissioning sites are: Dounreay, Windscale, Harwell, Culham JET, Winfrith, Sellafield, Drigg,Capenhurst, Springfields, Berkeley, Bradwell, Calder Hall, Chapelcross,Dungeness A, Hinkley Point A, Hunterston A, Oldbury, Sizewell A, Trawsfynydd,Wylfa This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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