BNFL Gains Approval to Sell British Nuclear Group

LONDON, March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- BNFL has today gained Government approval to sell its specialist nuclear clean-up business, British Nuclear Group.

BNFL's Chief Executive Michael Parker said: "The sale is a positive strategic move for both the business and our employees. It gives the business the opportunity of increased performance and at the same time gives our employees increased career opportunities and the chance to earn a better future.

"We now look forward to working closely with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to develop the criteria against which preferred bidders will be selected. I expect that there will be significant interest from potential purchasers."

Lawrie Haynes, British Nuclear Group's Chief Executive, said: "A strong British Nuclear Group means strong competition and that can only be good news for the NDA and the UK taxpayer. The stronger we are, the better placed we are to safely deliver what I call 'Big V', that is the value we can create for UK taxpayer by reducing the overall lifetime bill for cleaning up the UK's nuclear legacy.

"We will deliver this value by making real progress in safely cleaning up the sites, actively managing the supply chain while at the same time demonstrating our clear commitment to the communities in which we operate.

"The right buyer will enable us to complement our skills with theirs to create a powerful player in the global nuclear clean-up market and 'raise the bar' in terms of subsequent competitions. This delivers enhanced value to the NDA by accelerating nuclear clean-up in the UK.

The company also welcomes the NDA's strategy document published today which, amongst other things, outlines that with a new owner we will have the opportunity to continue to run the contract for managing and operating the Sellafield site until 2012, giving British Nuclear Group a fantastic opportunity to deliver significant value for the customer over the lifetime of that contract.

In order to further drive a competitive clean-up market in the UK, the NDA's strategy also requires the evolution of the Reactor Sites business into two separate "bundles", still owned by British Nuclear Group, in the run up to competition. This will enable each bundle to be competed separately.

Following today's announcement work will start in earnest to ensure that an open and transparent sales process is conducted as swiftly as possible. This will commence with a review of the incumbent contracts, development of pre-qualification criteria and preparation of sales material. It is expected that the sale process will be completed by autumn 2007, earlier if possible.

Notes to Editors:

Who we are

- British Nuclear Group is a specialist nuclear site management, operations and clean-up business, employing around 800 people. British Nuclear Group is also responsible for the management of a further 12,000 people through the site management and operations contracts it has from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

- It operates on 18 sites throughout the UK, together with a number of locations in Europe

- Part of the BNFL Group, British Nuclear Group's strategy and focus is to deliver accelerated nuclear clean-up programmes, safely and cost-effectively for our customers in the UK and overseas.

- The sale of British Nuclear Group is the final stage in the evolution of a strategy for BNFL jointly agreed with Government in 2003.

- The company is founded on a proud track record of applying in-depth experience and innovation to complex nuclear challenges. The end result will be a safe environment for future generations.

- Its two distinct businesses, Management Services and Project Services represent a wide range of skills and expert knowledge interchangeable across its area of operations.

- These operations are carried out under licence from the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) and environmental authorisations from the Environment Agency and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency. They include nuclear clean-up, reactor operations and decommissioning, reprocessing and waste management.

- British Nuclear Group has the management expertise and spread of capabilities to take on the largest nuclear site management tasks as a prime contractor.

- It delivers highly focused specialist teams, often working in partnership with others, to develop solutions for the most challenging decommissioning and clean-up projects. For example British Nuclear Group is working in partnership with Serco and Lockheed Martin at AWE Aldermaston; Fluor at Sellafield; Amec at Dounreay; and numerous other projects across the UK.