Last updated at 12:53, Friday, 30 March 2012

The first contract of a new 15-year, £1.5 billion framework agreement at Sellafield has been commissioned.

Babcock International has won a £390,000 deal to carry out a decommissioning study at one of the site’s oldest nuclear fuel storage ponds. Babcock is part of the Progressive Alliance consortium that clinched the landmark Design Services Alliance (DSA) contract in February.

Under the deal, consortium members will provide specialist design, engineering and safety assessments for the next 15 years.

The agreement was the first of its kind and nuclear chiefs say it will give stability to the local supply chain and offer better value for the tax payer.

The Babcock study will investigate the First Generation Magnox Storage Pond.

Martin Leafe, head of the pond, said: “We’re looking far and wide for innovative decommissioning technologies and this trial work into potential cutting technologies should ensure we meet our target date to retrieve fuel from the pond.

“We are also joining forces with Magnox Ltd and Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd to share the results of trials they are carrying out on alternative techniques to cut up large metal items undergoing decommissioning.”

First published at 11:28, Friday, 30 March 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk