Jacobs Secures Asset Management Role with UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Jacobs (NYSE:J) was selected to provide asset management solutions to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the public body in charge of cleaning up legacy facilities in the U.K.

Under the four-year contract, Jacobs and its strategic supplier, PA Consulting, will support the NDA on the implementation of 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.

"We are deploying tactical delivery capability to support the NDA's implementation of its asset management strategy," said Jacobs Critical Mission Solutions International Senior Vice President Clive White. "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 U.K.'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 optimizing 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.

"Our asset management approach integrates process, organization, technology and information with a move from predictive to condition-based maintenance on critical nuclear assets," said PA Consulting's Head of Nuclear Julianne Antrobus.