Civil engineering companies, including Amec and Fluor, the US contractor, are expected to be among the front runners for the nuclear decommissioning business the UK government has put up for sale.
Privatisation of the commercial arm of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is expected to raise only £50m but the Government believes the business has the potential to win an important slice of the huge nuclear power closure programme in Britain and overseas.
The nuclear power project management and consultancy business plays a key role in decommissioning old plants.
Total revenues for consultancy work and other services are around £30m and rising.
Contracts for the next phase of closing Dounreay are said to have influenced the decision of Lord Mandelson, Business Secretary, to put the business up for auction to ensure a 'level playing field' and head off any criticism that the AEA subsidiary is a 'shoe in' for the order.
The business is already in partnership with Amec and CH2MHill, another US group, for de-commissioning work on the three sites.
The UKAEA also believes privatisation will provide the incentives needed to encourage the 233 strong staff to stay with the company.
One nuclear expert said the business was vulnerable to 'poaching' by rival private sector competitors and would struggle on its own without strong partners.
Closing old nuclear plants is big business as Britain prepares for a new nuclear power age. The National Decommissioning Authority is budgeting to spend £48bn shutting the first and second generation nuclear plants.
International consortia have been lining up for a share of the business and Lord Mandelson feels that the UKAEA offshoot will be better placed inside a bigger group where the prestige lies in handling the project and the pay-off from dismantling radioactive plant.
Investment bankers Greenhill who are handling the sale for the Government hope to draw up a list of preferred bidders by the summer and complete the Government's smallest privatisation by the end of the year.
UKAEA will be left as a rump with fusion interests and the planned science park at Harwell as its main assets.
Lady Judge, UKAEA chairman, said the commercial wing had a exciting opportunity to build a larger and more broadly based nuclear services company.
The nuclear power project management and consultancy business plays a key role in decommissioning old plants.
Total revenues for consultancy work and other services are around £30m and rising.
Contracts for the next phase of closing Dounreay are said to have influenced the decision of Lord Mandelson, Business Secretary, to put the business up for auction to ensure a 'level playing field' and head off any criticism that the AEA subsidiary is a 'shoe in' for the order.
The business is already in partnership with Amec and CH2MHill, another US group, for de-commissioning work on the three sites.
The UKAEA also believes privatisation will provide the incentives needed to encourage the 233 strong staff to stay with the company.
One nuclear expert said the business was vulnerable to 'poaching' by rival private sector competitors and would struggle on its own without strong partners.
Closing old nuclear plants is big business as Britain prepares for a new nuclear power age. The National Decommissioning Authority is budgeting to spend £48bn shutting the first and second generation nuclear plants.
International consortia have been lining up for a share of the business and Lord Mandelson feels that the UKAEA offshoot will be better placed inside a bigger group where the prestige lies in handling the project and the pay-off from dismantling radioactive plant.
Investment bankers Greenhill who are handling the sale for the Government hope to draw up a list of preferred bidders by the summer and complete the Government's smallest privatisation by the end of the year.
UKAEA will be left as a rump with fusion interests and the planned science park at Harwell as its main assets.
Lady Judge, UKAEA chairman, said the commercial wing had a exciting opportunity to build a larger and more broadly based nuclear services company.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
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