Sizewell B (Original Construction)
Suffolk, UK · 1988-1995 · £2.03bn (1987 prices)
The judgement call
Account-gated at launchCompleted within budget and on schedule, demonstrating effective project management for nuclear new build. - The project director was granted significant autonomy, contributing to efficient decision-making. - Proved the capability of UK industry to deliver complex PWR projects.
Key engineering challenges
Construction of the UK's first and only Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR). - Managing one of the UK's longest non-stop concrete pours for the reactor base. - Ensuring stringent safety and regulatory compliance for a new reactor design in the UK context.
Project facts
- Client / owner
- CEGB (Central Electricity Generating Board), Nuclear Electric
- Lead contractor
- Nuclear Design Associates (Sir Robert McAlpine & Taylor Woodrow JV)
- Lead designers
- Nuclear Design Associates
- Project type
- new build
- Scale
- 1198 MWe (PWR reactor), 5,200 m3 concrete pour
- Disciplines
- civil; structural; mechanical; electrical; nuclear; process
- Standards & frameworks
- UK Nuclear Safety Regulations
Sources: World Nuclear Association: Sizewell B (https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-reactor-database/details/sizewell%20b) - ICE: Sizewell B: Generating Zero Carbon Electricity For The UK (https://www.ice.org.uk/what-is-civil-engineering/infrastructure-projects/sizewell-b) - Hansard: Sizewell B Cost Estimate (https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1990-07-12/debates/5db27d8d-b3ab-4481-a8a4-4e8236a7eea4/SizewellBCostEstimate) - NIA UK: Delivering Sizewell B: “No Project Director was given such power” (https://www.niauk.org/delivering-sizewell-b-no-project-director-was-given-such-power/)