Evolution of UK Contract Structure for Nuclear Power New Build

The first UK programmes of nuclear power projects launched in 1956 employed consortia of engineering and construction contractors competing to develop a series of one-off designs developed from the government’s Calder Hall prototype. The ownership, size, strengths and financing today of the utilities, engineering contractors, their suppliers and supporting expert organisations for designing and constructing new nuclear power stations in the UK have changed greatly since the start of those first projects sixty years ago. Unchanged is the dependence of today’s new projects on bespoke engineering and construction and therefore the value of lessons to be learnt from how engineering and construction contractors were employed in those previous programmes.