The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) today announced that Babcock Dounreay Partnership is the preferred bidder in the competition to take ownership of Dounreay Site Restoration Limited, after a two-year public procurement process.

Following a mandatory 10-day standstill period, a three-month transition phase will begin during which the contract between the NDA and Babcock Dounreay Partnership will be finalised with the aim of awarding the contract in April 2012.  Babcock Dounreay Partnership is a specially created private sector consortium comprising Babcock Nuclear Services Ltd, CH2M Hill and URS Holdings (UK) Ltd.

The transition period provides time for members of the new executive team to introduce themselves to the existing management and workforce, and undertake a handover period from existing management. 

Following successful transition, Babcock Dounreay Partnership will become the new Parent Body Organisation and take ownership through share transfer of Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL), the Site Licence Company at the Scottish site.

The competitive process continues until share transfer on 2 April, and the NDA intends that the non-preferred bid remains in reserve until then.

While this does not represent the end of the procurement, today’s news signals a major milestone in the competitive process to secure a world-class parent body for DSRL. The contract will be the first to take an NDA site to an Interim End State.

Key criteria for the competition were that bids should accelerate the current 2038 closure date by at least six years while reducing costs by at least £500 million.

 Tony Fountain, NDA Chief Executive, said: “The selection of Babcock Dounreay Partnership as the preferred bidder is a significant step in our drive to attract world-class management and innovation to our sites.

“We have undergone a comprehensive and rigorous process aimed at securing the best possible parent body for this challenging site. Babcock Dounreay Partnership bring a successful track record and extensive nuclear experience that will bring enormous benefits to the decommissioning and clean-up programme.

“We had a number of threshold criteria and these were all met and, in some instances, well exceeded the minimum requirements.”

John Thurso, MP for Caithness Sutherland & Easter Ross, said: “Since its inception Dounreay has been a world leading centre of technological innovation and that innovation and skill will continue to be required through the decommissioning process.

“I welcome the announcement of the preferred bidder and I look forward to working with them to ensure that, in addition to the undoubted technological legacy of Dounreay, the Far North’s economy remains a growing, vibrant, skill-based economy that will take us forward for another half century.”

The partnership between Babcock Dounreay Partnership and the NDA will deliver increased performance and value for money for the taxpayer.

DSRL are responsible for decommissioning the Dounreay nuclear site. The incumbent PBO, Babcock-owned UKAEA, will hand over to the new PBO at the beginning of April 2012, when the shares will be transferred, marking completion of one of the most significant public sector contracts to be awarded in 2012.

END

Notes to Editors
Dounreay
From 1955-1994, Dounreay was the UK’s centre for fast reactor research and development, and is now Scotland’s largest nuclear clean-up and demolition project.

Research at Dounreay, carried out by some of the nation’s leading scientists and engineers, gave the UK the knowledge to generate electricity using a more advanced type of reactor, the ‘fast breeder’. The experimental nature of these now-redundant facilities poses some complex decommissioning challenges, requiring real technological innovation in order to complete safe decommissioning.

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body responsible for the decommissioning and clean-up of the UK’s civil public nuclear sites. The NDA does not directly manage the sites but contracts out the delivery of site programmes to Site Licence Companies (SLCs), who are responsible for day-to-day operations. Each SLC has a Parent Body Organisation (PBO), which owns the shares in that SLC for the duration of the contract with the NDA.

DSRL is the Site Licence Company that manages the decommissioning and clean-up of the Dounreay site. Funding for the site was set at £150 million a year in the Government Spending Review of 2010.

Competition
In September 2009 the NDA launched a competition in accordance with EU procurement rules to secure a new Parent Body for Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd. Babcock Dounreay Partnership have been named as the NDA’s Preferred Bidder and the transition agreement between the two parties will be entered into following the mandatory standstill period.

The award of the Parent Body Agreement and Site Licence Company Agreement will be made for the period until the site reaches its Interim End State, or closure, when all major decommissioning work will be complete, including the retrieval and disposal or storage of wastes and fuel, as well as the demolition of the majority of buildings. The proposed date for closure was originally set at 2063 but has been moving forward over the last decade and is currently anticipated to be 2038.

Further information
Deborah Ward, NDA, 01925 802343 (m: 07980 930838)
Bill Hamilton, NDA, 01925 802193 (m: 07816 315132)
Anna MacConnell, NDA, 01925 802497 (m. 07889117204)
Liz Pulford, Babcock Dounreay Partnership, 0116 201 5346 (m: 07801 775346)

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