British authorities said on Friday that a consortium of British, French and US companies was the preferred bidder for a contract to dismantle the Sellafield nuclear site in northern England.
"The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has today announced that Nuclear Management Partners … is the preferred bidder in the competition" for the Sellafield deal, the NDA said in a statement on Friday.
Nuclear Management Partners comprises Areva of France, AMEC of Britain and Washington International Holdings, which is a division of URS Corporation of the United States.
The contract, worth about 1.3 billion pounds per year (1.6 billion euros, 2.6 billion dollars), would last for five years initially but could run for 17 years in total.
The NDA added that it would enter into discussions with Nuclear Management Partners ahead of a decision on the award of the contract in October 2008.
"The NDA will now move towards contract finalisation and ultimately the award of this contract, the successful implementation of which is crucial to the mission of the overall clean-up and decommissioning of the UK's existing nuclear legacy," the statement said.
The other bidders in the competition are US engineering firm CH2M Hill Nuclear Services and two other consortia. They comprise US firm Fluor and Japanese giant Toshiba; and US groups Babcock & Wilcox and Bechtel, and Serco of Britain.
"The selection of Nuclear Management Partners Ltd as the preferred bidder is a significant step forward in the NDA's drive to attract world class management and innovation to the UK's nuclear decommissioning industry," said NDA chief executive Dr Ian Roxburgh in the statement.
"Nuclear Management Partners Ltd have emerged from a very strong field of four bidders."
The NDA is a public body which is tasked with the decommissioning and cleaning-up of Britain's public sector nuclear energy sites.
Friday's announcement comes after the British government approved plans earlier this year to build a new generation of nuclear power stations.
