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Residue Recovery Plant (RRP) Decommissioning Interim Delivery Partner

Nuclear Restoration Services Limited

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Award

30 Sep 2026 at 11:39

UK5 - Transparency Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Nuclear Restoration Services Limited is procuring specialist decommissioning delivery-partner services for the Residue Recovery Plant in the Fuel Cycle Area at Dounreay. The work is intended to accelerate decommissioning and reduce hazards, including targeted decontamination and post-operational clean-out of fast-reactor fuel reprocessing facilities. The scope includes carrying out an existing investigation plan, developing detailed designs from the existing decommissioning plan, and providing strategic leadership, technical capability and specialist expertise. This is nuclear fuel-cycle decommissioning work, not general programme-management consultancy. The requirement also involves chemical washouts and work to support future decommissioning and reduce intermediate-level waste. The buyer is Nuclear Restoration Services Limited, which is responsible for the Dounreay site.

The procurement is complete and the contract has been awarded to Orano Limited by direct award, justified on technical grounds: the buyer says changing supplier would create disproportionate technical difficulties and that Orano’s specialist knowledge and established models are not readily replaceable. The awarded value is £5 billion gross. The contract period runs from 4 December 2026 to 3 December 2029, with an option to extend by four months, to a maximum end date of 2 April 2030. The award is recorded as pending, and a contract-signature milestone is scheduled for 4 December 2026. The requirement is arranged as one lot. The award basis reflects the continuity and specialist capability needed to complete the remaining decommissioning work; no separate scored evaluation criteria are stated.

For suppliers preparing for a comparable requirement at Dounreay, credibility depends on proven experience in decontaminating and carrying out post-operational clean-out of fast-reactor fuel-reprocessing facilities, rather than nuclear decommissioning or programme integration alone. Relevant capability includes alpha decommissioning, chemical and nitric-acid washouts, radioactive-liquor management, remote operations, waste characterisation and conditioning, safety substantiation, and engineering design. The selected supplier’s advantage was prior delivery at the site and detailed knowledge of the Fuel Cycle Area, its investigation and decommissioning plans, and the methods and lessons developed in earlier work. Experience with fast-reactor reprocessing facilities with comparable technical characteristics is relevant. The requirement also favours continuity in modelling and planning tools, including familiarity with LEOPARD outputs, established data structures and validation, as well as the capacity to retain specialist resources through a complex, multi-year programme.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

Residue Recovery Plant (RRP) Decommissioning Interim Delivery Partner

Notice Description

Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS) requires the provision of delivery partnership to provide strategic leadership, technical capability and specialist expertise to accelerate decommissioning and hazard reduction activities within the Fuel Cycle Area (FCA).

Procurement Information

This direct award is justified - under Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023, Schedule 5, Paragraph 7, which permits a direct award where: (a) a change in supplier would result in the contracting authority receiving goods, services or works that are different from, or incompatible with, the existing goods, services or works, and (b)the difference or incompatibility would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation or maintenance. It would be difficult for another provider to demonstrate the same level of expertise as Orano who has developed significant organisational knowledge of NRS and FCA decommissioning requirements through its previous development of the RRP decommissioning approach to Integrated Concept maturity and possesses unique experience in the operation and decommissioning of fast reactor fuel reprocessing facilities, including the AT1 facility at La Hague, which shares key technical characteristics with RRP. The requirement is not simply for programme management consultancy. The requirement is for the continuation of specialist decommissioning activities delivered by Orano between 2021 and 2024 under the DSF for NRS Dounreay, specifically decontamination and POCO of Fast Reactor Fuel Reprocessing facilities within the Fuel Cycle Area (FCA). Completion of the remaining scope necessitates detailed knowledge of alpha decommissioning and chemical washouts, including the methodologies, engineering design, waste-characterisation approaches, software and modelling tools (including Orano's proprietary software, LEOPARD), safety-substantiation work, and lessons learned generated during the earlier phase. Now a further requirement exists to continue these activities over a three-year period. This contract will enable the restart of the FCA - North work previously undertaken by Orano, supporting the reduction of the overall FCA programme duration and associated lifetime decommissioning costs, and also will contribute to reducing the volume of Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) generated during decommissioning. Orano will implement the existing investigation plan to provide suitable data for targeted Post Operational Clean Out (POCO) and future decommissioning works and develop the detailed design of elements from the existing RRP decommissioning plan originally produced by Orano. Awarding a contract to Orano as the Interim Delivery Partner will preserve project knowledge, minimise mobilisation and handover risks, and provide access to specialist expertise and lessons learned that cannot be readily replicated by alternative suppliers within the required timescales. Introducing a new supplier would require substantial knowledge transfer, familiarisation and technical revalidation activities, resulting in increased cost, programme delay and delivery risk. Orano has developed multiple proprietary technologies directly relevant to POCO and washout optimisation. That fact demonstrates the absence of competition for technical reasons, supporting the fact that only a particular supplier, Orano, can supply the services required. This makes Orano one of the strongest technically differentiated suppliers for POCO washout activities when compared with engineering-led providers whose experience is focused primarily on reactor decommissioning, programme integration, or waste treatment rather than fuel-cycle operations. For POCO washout work specifically, Orano's strongest differentiator versus many competitors is not simply decommissioning experience, but the fact that it has operated and decommissioned some of the world's most complex nuclear fuel-cycle facilities. This gives the company unusually strong expertise in process decontamination, radioactive liquor management, nitric-acid washout campaigns, remote operations, and waste conditioning. Orano Limited is the owner of LEOPARD- programme, cost and resource modelling software which has been utilised during the life of the previous Contract. Alternatives would not constitute a reasonable substitute because Results would not be directly comparable with existing LEOPARD models and migration to an alternative platform would require significant redevelopment, including reconstruction of established models, data structures, assumptions and validation processes. NRS Dounreay therefore considers that no reasonable alternative exists that can deliver the requirement with an equivalent degree of technical capability, continuity and confidence, without significant avoidable cost, risk and delay, and that changing supplier would create disproportionate technical difficulties in operation or maintenance. This satisfies the requirement in Schedule 5 Paragraph 7. A direct award to Orano Limited is considered compliant with the requirements of the Procurement Act 2023.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-077d63
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/092288-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK5 - Transparency Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Large

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

71 - Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services

CPV Codes

71600000 - Technical testing, analysis and consultancy services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
£5,000,000,000 £1B-£10B
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
30 Sep 20266 days ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
4 Dec 2026 - 3 Dec 2029 3-4 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Pending
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Nuclear Restoration Services Limited
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
WARRINGTON
Postcode
WA3 6GR
Postcode Area
Warrington
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLD North West (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLD6 Cheshire
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLD61 Warrington
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Warrington
Electoral Ward
Birchwood
Westminster Constituency
Warrington North

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

Orano

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

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