Partnership with AREVA

RNS Number : 5123J

Balfour Beatty PLC

04 December 2008

 



4 December 2008

BALFOUR BEATTY PARTNERS WITH AREVA 

TO DELIVER EPR NUCLEAR REACTORS IN THE UK 

Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction, services and investment group, announces that it is partnering with AREVA, a world leader in nuclear power, to ensure effective delivery of a fleet of EPR nuclear reactors (EPRs) in the UK.  

Balfour Beatty is a market-leading engineering and construction business and has gained wide-ranging nuclear experience in the UK over the past 50 years, covering civil engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, construction and facilities management at sites including Sellafield, Sizewell B, Hunterston and Torness.  

Balfour Beatty will work with AREVA to identify the skills and resources required to deliver a fleet of EPRs and to put an effective supply chain in place.  It is estimated that the nuclear programme could sustain between 10-15,000 jobs over a 25-year period.

Site construction of the first EPR could start as early as 2013.  The Energy White Paper in 2007 first set out the UK Government's in-principle support for a programme of new nuclear power stations in the UK. 

Ian Tyler, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, commented:

'We are delighted to be working with AREVA. Balfour Beatty has a strong heritage in the nuclear sector and the breadth and depth of expertise to deliver large and complex multi-disciplinary engineering and construction projects. We look forward to working together to deliver the EPR programme over the long term.'

Mike O'Brien, Minister at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, said:

''This is good news.  It represents a vote of confidence by AREVA in the UK new nuclear market and a vote of confidence in the UK supply chain.  This is the welcome face of low carbon energy we'll see more and more over the coming decades, opening up enormous potential for UK plc at home and globally.'

In a separate development, Balfour Beatty has also formed a joint venture with VINCI Construction to help deliver project management, construction and civil engineering infrastructure for the EPR programme in the UK. VINCI's UK-based construction and engineering companies include Taylor Woodrow and Norwest Holst.  It will also rely on the expertise of VINCI Construction Grands Projets.  

This exclusive alliance will draw on the extensive knowledge and experience of the VINCI Group on international nuclear programmes. This will be harnessed in support of Balfour Beatty within the AREVA partnership and to bid for EPR sites for utilities adopting alternative procurement models in the UK including EDF.

-ENDS-

Analyst/media enquiries: 

Duncan Murray
Tel: [phone]

www.balfourbeatty.com 

Notes to Editors:

1.    Balfour Beatty's expertise in the UK nuclear industry includes:

• A 50-year track record of working on nuclear projects - including over 40 years at Hunterston and 25 years at Sellafield. Over this extended period, Balfour Beatty has provided engineering and construction capabilities including civil works, multi-discipline design and build, technical support frameworks, control electrical and instrumentation, decommissioning and demolition.

• A major highlight of Balfour Beatty's association with Sellafield was the completion of the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP). We are currently working on the design and build SPP1 project - the Sludge Packaging Plant that is designed to act as interim storage for Magnox sludge. In addition we are constructing Vault 9, the Low Level Waste Repository at Drigg.  Our experience at Sellafield also includes Pond 5 which was a complex reinforced structure proving facilities for the handling, storage and dispatch of spent fuel elements.

• At Hunterston, a Balfour Beatty alliance team recently completed the Intermediate Level Waste Store - a large reinforced concrete building with steel cladding, mechanical handling retrieval equipment and ancillary services.

• Balfour Kilpatrick is a leading M&E installation services provider in the UK nuclear sector. It has provided design and installation services on nuclear power station construction projects including Torness and Sizewell B and has maintained an active participation on many nuclear sites in the role of multi-discipline term contractor. More recently its project bias has shifted towards reprocessing and decommissioning works.

• Balfour Beatty WorkPlace (formerly Haden Building Management), Balfour Kilpatrick and Balfour Beatty Management won a seven-year integrated FM contract for British Energy in December 2007. Balfour Beatty is responsible for providing a range of services including mechanical and electrical maintenance, security and waste management to the nuclear power stations at Hunterston B and Torness in Scotland, Heysham 1 and 2 and Hartlepool in the north of England, Sizewell B in East Anglia and Hinkley Point B and Dungeness B in the South.

2.    Balfour Beatty also built Barking Power Station between 1992 and 1995, one of the last power stations to
       be built in the UK, in which it retains a 25.5 percent  shareholding, and has built many other power stations
       around the world.

3.   Balfour Beatty is a world-class engineering, construction, services and investment     business, well-
      positioned in infrastructure markets which offer significant long-term  growth. We work in
      partnership with sophisticated customers who value the highest levels of quality, safety and technical
      expertise. Our skills are applied in appropriate combinations to meet individual customer need.  

     Balfour Beatty's financial position, with significant net cash and with strong operating cash flows, offers 
     continuing flexibility to add additional capacity and expertise to the  business mix and to make appropriate 
     investments in PPP and other long-term growth opportunities.

 

END

 

 

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