Archive for the ‘Nuclear power’ Category

The Kier and Bam Nuttall JV partnership have emerged as the clear favourites for a lucrative £100 million earthworks contract at the Hinckley C Nuclear power station in Somerset. The JV partnership have been selected as preferred bidders after beating off stiff competition from Costain / McAlpine and Balfour Beatty / Vinci JV partnerships.

The earthworks contract is the first one of several construction contracts to be awarded by French owned EDF Energy, although the main contract will be the £1.2 billion civils contract. The Hinckley C earthworks contract will involve the movement of 4.5 million cubic metres of earth and rock and is the second big success the Bam Nuttall and Kier partnership have had as they also won a £4 million site preparation contract with EDF Energy in 2010.

Of the other big contracts on offer, five large contractors are bidding on the £250 million tunnelling contract and EDF are expected to announce the successful bidder in the next few months. Hydrock has already been awarded the £1 million site remediation contract after beating off lots off opposition from other contractors. Remediation work on the site will centre on a spoil heap created during the construction of the now defunct Hinckley A reactor. Asbestos contamination will be dealt with and removed from the site.

The Costain / McAlpine and Bam Nuttall / Kier JV partnerships are both bidding on the tunnelling contract at the Hinckley C Nuclear Power Station. Tunnelling work will include the construction of two 3 km intake tunnels as well as a 2 km outfall tunnel. There will also be a series of sea shafts constructed. German tunnelling specialists, Wayss and Freytag, a company owned by Bam Nuttall, have also been drafted in to help with the JVs bid on the tunnelling contract.