AMEC

NUCLEAR NEWS FLASHES - Friday, January 6, 2006

--BAND ALLIANCE IS THE PREFERRED BIDDER FOR A NEW FACILITY AT DOUNREAY, the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) announced today. The new 100-million pound (U.S.$175-million) facility at the former fast reactor site in Scotland will treat fast reactor fuel reprocessing wastes currently stored in underground tanks. The alliance consists of AMEC (as the prime contractor), British Nuclear Group Project Services Ltd., NIS Ltd., DGP International, and Weir Strachan & Henshaw. Site manager UKAEA said that facility design and construction is likely to begin toward the end of 2007, after ministerial approval is obtained. Dounreay's director, Norman Harrison, said the planned facility is "the largest project yet" to be undertaken at Dounreay on behalf of state-run cleanup body Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which came into existence in April 2005. Today's announcement "represents a significant step forward" in decommissioning Dounreay, he added.