Cavendish Wins 'Lifetime' Nuclear Support Deal in U.K.

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Cavendish Nuclear has clinched a "lifetime" support deal for seven U.K. nuclear reactors from EDF Energy (London, England) worth an estimated £40 million ($60 million) per year.

Cavendish, part of Babcock International Group plc (LSE:BAB) (London, England), said that the first of two agreements is to support its fleet of seven Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor (AGR) stations in the U.K.. The Lifetime Enterprise Agreement (LEA) means Cavendish Nuclear will continue to provide fuel route and other services to the AGR stations for their operational lives, with the last plant due for closure in around 16 years. The plants include Dungeness B, Hartlepool, Heysham 1 and 2, Hinkley Point B, Hunterston B and Torness. The company will also provide services to EDF's Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) at Sizewell B until decommissioning in 2035. EDF Energy is the U.K. arm of French utility Electricité de France SA (EDF) (EPA:EDF) (Paris).

Most of the plants in the U.K.'s AGR nuclear fleet are due for decommissioning within the decade, between 2019 and 2023. However, last week EDF announced a 10-year extension to the Dungeness B nuclear power plant in Kent, England. Originally due to close in 2018, EDF announced a £150 million ($225 million) injection to extend the life of the plant, which houses two 545-megawatt (MW) AGRs, until 2028. For additional information, see January 23, 2015, article - 10-Year Lifeline for U.K. Nuclear Plant.

Cavendish Nuclear has also signed the EDF Energy Strategic Partnership for Lifetime Interface Agreement, with a group of companies committed to sharing expertise within EDF contracts. The other firms include Doosan Babcock Energy Limited (Renfrew, Scotland), AMEC Foster Wheeler PLC (NYSE:AMFW) (London, England) and Atkins (Sheffield, England).

"Cavendish Nuclear has supported EDF Energy in the design and operation of its fleet since the stations were first constructed almost 40 years ago," explained Phil Craig, Cavendish Nuclear's EDF Business Director. "We were the original designers, and manufactured the fuel handing equipment and other critical plant when the stations were first built, and we are delighted that EDF Energy wants to continue and develop that relationship through to the end of the operating lives of the AGR fleet."

In related news, EDF said that one of the nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point B power station in Somerset has been taken out of service for its scheduled, three-year statutory outage. Over the next 10 weeks, a thousand extra workers will descend on the plant for the £40 million ($60 million) project where 12,000 separate pieces of work will be undertaken. The biggest projects include replacing two large gas circulators, which help cool the reactor, as well as replacing blades on the turbine, which is used to turn steam into electricity. Hinkley Point B's two AGR reactors generate enough electricity to power around 1.5 million homes.

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