culled from:bbc.com
The government is set to strip private consortium Nuclear Management Partners (NMP) of a £9bn contract to clean up the nuclear waste site at Sellafield.
A Department of Energy and Climate Change spokesperson told the BBC it was “working with industry experts on alternative options”.
NMP, which includes British and French energy firms Amec and Areva as well as US engineer URS, has run the site for more than six years.
However it has been heavily criticised.
The Public Accounts Committee and the National Audit Office have both accused NMP of cost overruns and delays.
Despite this, NMP’s contract was extended for a further five years in 2013.
“Ed Davey has been very clear that he’s wanted to see more effective progress in decommissioning the biggest and most complex nuclear site in Europe, providing the best outcome for the taxpayer,” added the DECC spokesperson.
‘Held to account’
NMP was originally granted the decommissioning job in 2008, and employs 10,000 workers on the site.
The GMB Union welcomed the news.
Its national secretary for energy, Gary Smith, said: “We said the contract should not have been extended in 2013. The government needs to be held to account. Hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers money has been squandered.”
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which awarded the contract, last year increased its estimate for cleaning up the UK’s nuclear sites by 7% to £110bn over the next 120 years, with Sellafield accounting for the vast bulk of that.
But NMP general manager Iain Irving said since the contract was extended in 2013 “the site has enjoyed one of its best ever periods of performance and progress”.
“Importantly, over the last two years, we have consecutively achieved the site’s best overall safety records,” he added.
