Jacobs secures more N-plant decommissioning contracts
Nuclear industry specialist Jacobs has been selected to provide asset management solutions to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the public body in charge of cleaning up legacy facilities in the UK.
Under the four-year contract, Jacobs and its strategic supplier, PA Consulting, will support the NDA on its asset management strategy, applying new digital decision-making tools to improve efficiency and reduce operational costs on nuclear-licensed sites in the NDA estate.
NYSE-listed Jacobs has substantial operations in Warrington and Manchester.
Clive White, Jacobs critical mission solutions international senior vice president, said: “We are deploying tactical delivery capability to support the NDA’s implementation of its asset management strategy.
“Harnessing our deep domain experience and best practices, combined with our data-driven, digitally enabled solutions, we will help the NDA drive improvements and secure better outcomes.”
The NDA is responsible for decommissioning 17 nuclear sites across England, Wales and Scotland, some dating back to the 1940s.
These include Sellafield Ltd, Europe’s most complex nuclear site, the first generation of Magnox power stations, the UK’s low-level waste repository in West Cumbria, the Dounreay former fast reactor research site in Scotland and other research and fuel facilities.
Jacobs and PA Consulting are already working with Sellafield Ltd to introduce a new approach to asset management through use of digital decision-making tools for optimising the reliability and availability of critical assets such as utilities, cranes and batteries.
This involves installing sensors on the equipment to record data.
A digital twin is then created which generates information to improve decision making so that the equipment can be managed more efficiently and at lower cost.
PA Consulting’s head of nuclear, Julianne Antrobus, said: “Our asset management approach integrates process, organisation, technology and information with a move from predictive to condition-based maintenance on critical nuclear assets.”
