US-based Jacobs Solutions has been selected by Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N) to deliver vital environmental services for the UK’s Oldbury-on-Severn site in South Gloucestershire. The contract builds on initial site characterisation activities and will help assess the suitability of the Oldbury site for potential nuclear development.
Jacobs will develop environmental baseline data across terrestrial and marine environments, along with environmental assessments, Habitats Regulations Assessment and associated activities to inform future potential planning, design and permitting decisions.
Jacobs will deliver the services with subconsultants, Canada/US-based AtkinsRéalis and US construction engineering firm AECOM to support environmental surveys, impact assessments and regulatory approvals. The work will support the evidence base needed to inform planning and consenting decisions, as well as future design and construction considerations.
“As part of our role to position Oldbury for nuclear development, it’s important we continue to deepen our understanding of the site with various packages of work, such as ground investigations and archaeological surveys,” said GBE-N CEO Simon Roddy. “I’m pleased to welcome Jacobs and their partners to the team to better our knowledge of Oldbury through environmental assessments, which will be key to informing future planning decisions.”
Jacobs Executive Vice President Richard Sanderson said: “Strengthening the UK’s energy security and advancing lower-carbon power requires new civil nuclear development at pace. Jacobs has supported some of the most complex nuclear programmes in the UK and globally, working across the full lifecycle from early development through delivery.”
Jacobs employs more than 5,000 people across the UK, operating from 15 offices and over 35 additional sites. Working with the Government, local authorities and the private sector, the company continues to play a leading role in the UK civil nuclear industry, contributing to major programmes such as the Sizewell C and Hinkley Point C NPPs and Sellafield.
The Oldbury site sits adjacent to a decommissioned Magnox nuclear plant on the banks of the River Severn. Before Great British Energy – Nuclear acquired the Oldbury site, it was a primary target for the UK’s previous generation of nuclear expansion plans. Over the last two decades, multiple commercial consortia proposed large-scale projects for the site.
The most prominent new-build effort was led by Horizon Nuclear Power, a consortium initially formed by E.ON and RWE in 2009. They originally initiated environmental impact scoping reports for pressurised water reactors (PWRs). After E.ON and RWE pulled out, Hitachi acquired Horizon in 2012 proposing to build two or three UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs).
The Oldbury timeline was heavily tied to Horizon’s primary site at Wylfa Newydd in Wales. Heavy construction at Oldbury was planned to follow Wylfa’s rollout. However, rising financing costs and a failure to reach a funding agreement with the UK government led Hitachi to suspend the programme in 2019 and the project was abandoned in late 2020.
Before Hitachi settled on the ABWR, the site was actively earmarked for alternate gigawatt-scale technologies by various commercial developers. Westinghouse evaluated Oldbury was as a potential site to host up to three AP1000 PWRs while Framatome/EDF considered the site for two European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs).
Following the collapse of the Horizon project, the Western Gateway partnership proposed a joint bid for both Oldbury and the nearby Berkeley site. They lobbied to host the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) project, which aimed to build the UK’s first prototype nuclear fusion power plant. While Oldbury made the final shortlist, the UK government ultimately selected West Burton in Nottinghamshire for the project in late 2022.
