The UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is asking for final tenders for the contract to run the Sellafield nuclear complex in England.

The release of tender documents for the Sellafield Parent Body Organisation follows the end of eight months of talks with four bidders: CH2MHill Nuclear Services; Fluor and Toshiba; SBB Nuclear (Serco, Bechtel, and Babcock & Wilcox); and Nuclear Management Partners (Washington International Holdings, AMEC, and Areva).

Responses are expected in spring 2008 with an announcement of the winning bid in the summer.

The contract is for up to 17 years and the successful bidder will own all the shares in Sellafield Limited (Ltd) for the duration of the contract.

Sellafield Ltd is the site licence company, which manages the Sellafield, Calder Hall, Windscale and Capenhurst nuclear sites in England. The company has an annual turnover in excess of one billion pounds with all funding coming from the NDA.

Meanwhile, the final contract negotiations for the low-level waste repository, near Drigg in England, are ongoing but expected to conclude early this year.

The NDA is expected to sign an agreement in early 2008 with the UK Nuclear Waste Management consortium for the low-level waste strategy and repository contract.

The consortium consists of Washington Group International with Studsvik, Areva, and Serco.


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