OneAIM, a joint venture between Amec Foster Wheeler and Interserve, has won a four-year GBP160m ($206m) framework contract to support reprocessing plants and facilities at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria, OneAIM announced on 16 August. The contract covers engineering support services for asset care and maintenance.
Each of the OneAIM partners has extensive experience in the nuclear sector. Amec Foster Wheeler’s existing work at Sellafield includes:
- Lot 3 of the Decommissioning Delivery Partnership, a 10-year, GBP125m framework to support accelerated clean-up of the site;
- Membership of the Axiom alliance, which supplies design, engineering, and safety case assessment services through the Design Services Alliance;
- Delivery, as part of a joint venture, of the Box Encapsulation Plant, a GBP600m project to tackle one of the site’s most hazardous legacy facilities;
- A 10-year contract for laboratory-based analysis and characterisation of waste.
Interserve has worked with Sellafield for 17 years, participating in major projects such as the opening of the new Evaporator D facility – a significant expansion to the capacity for processing nuclear waste material on the 6km² site.
In April, Sellafield started the search for four long-term construction partners to carry out work over the next 20 years. The procurement will see firms bidding for single places across four lots, each involving a different area of expertise.
Lot one will cover programme management; lot two will require a design and engineering partner; lot three calls for a civils contractor; and lot four will be for a process construction partner that will oversee construction management on the project.
Clive White, president of Amec Foster Wheeler's clean energy division, said:
“The combination of Amec Foster Wheeler and Interserve creates a highly capable vehicle that will work to bring international best practice and value-driven solutions to the Sellafield mission.” Guy Bruce, managing director of Interserve's infrastructure and industrial division, said: “Our longstanding relationship with Sellafield has given us an in-depth understanding of its unique needs, allowing us to work with our partners Amec Foster Wheeler to tailor the service we provide.”
On 15 August, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced it had accepted in principal an offer from Amec Foster Wheeler to sell a number of its UK upstream assets to address competition concerns around Wood Group's proposed GBP2.2bn takeover. An earlier investigation by CMA had highlighted concerns around the supply of engineering and construction services and operation and maintenance services in the UK where both firms currently compete. Wood Group said the offer consists of “the majority of Amec Foster Wheeler’s UK upstream oil and gas business located in the UK and serving UK customers (excluding its commissioning business, qedi)”.
