What happened

Sellafield Ltd has named the preferred partners for its Project and Asset Care Execution framework, worth up to £3.6bn, New Civil Engineer and World Nuclear News reported this week. The framework splits into two lots. OneAxIoM, a joint venture between Amentum Clean Energy and Mitie, takes Lot 1, covering work on process and mechanical handling nuclear facilities, worth up to £2.1bn. Hochtief takes Lot 2, covering batch specialist and decommissioning facilities, including special nuclear materials, nuclear infrastructure and remediation work, worth up to £1.5bn. The frameworks are due to run for nine years with an option to extend for a further six, potentially taking activity on the Cumbria site through to 2041.

Sellafield has described the model as a move to standardise approaches across its assets and adopt a scalable, output focused way of working, with an explicit emphasis on workforce skills alongside innovation and sustainability.

Why it matters

This is decommissioning and asset care work, not new build, and that distinction matters for the market. Sellafield is Europe's largest and most complex nuclear site, and a framework running to 2041 gives two supply chains, Amentum and Mitie on one side and Hochtief on the other, a multi-decade pipeline independent of whatever happens to the UK's new nuclear programme at Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C or the small modular reactor schemes further north. For contractors and specialist trades that have spent the past few years chasing new-build nuclear work, this is a reminder that the decommissioning side of the sector is just as large and considerably longer lived.

It also broadens where nuclear-trained people can go. Process and mechanical handling work under Lot 1 and special nuclear materials handling under Lot 2 both call for a different mix of skills to pouring concrete on a reactor island, skewing towards process engineering, remote handling and radiological protection rather than civils.

What it means for careers

For quantity surveyors, project managers and engineers with nuclear or highly regulated sector experience, OneAxIoM and Hochtief will both be building delivery teams in Cumbria over the coming months, and a nine-year framework with a further six-year option is about as close to job security as this market offers. Expect demand to run beyond civils into commercial and contracts roles that understand the particular cost reporting and safety case requirements of working on a live nuclear licensed site, which is a specialism in its own right and one that pays a premium over general construction commercial work.

If you are weighing a move into the nuclear sector from elsewhere in construction, decommissioning is worth rating alongside new build rather than as the less glamorous option. The programme horizon here, out to 2041, is longer than most new-build nuclear contracts currently on the market, and Mitie's involvement through the OneAxIoM joint venture is also a route in for facilities management and engineering services professionals who might not otherwise think of themselves as nuclear sector candidates.