Babcock Regulatory News (BAB)

23 November 2011

Babcock International Group PLC (Babcock, the Group)

Dounreay Competition - Preferred Bidder Announcement

We are delighted that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has today announced that the Babcock Dounreay Partnership (BDP) has been selected as the preferred bidder in the competition to take ownership of Dounreay Site Restoration Limited.

Following a mandatory 10-day standstill period, a three-month transition phase will begin during which the contract between the NDA and BDP will be finalised. The annual NDA budget for the contract is in the order of £150 million. The formal award of the contract for the Parent Body Organisation and Site Licence Company Agreement is planned for 2 April 2012 and will be for the period until the site has reached its Interim End State, when all major decommissioning work will be complete, including the retrieval and disposal or storage of wastes and fuel, as well as the demolition of the majority of buildings. This is expected to take a minimum of 10 years.

The Babcock Dounreay Partnership is a joint venture (jv) between Babcock, CH2M HILL and URS. Babcock holds a 50% share of the jv.

Peter Rogers, Chief Executive of Babcock, expressed his delight:

"The announcement that Babcock Dounreay Partnership has been chosen as preferred bidder for one of the UK's biggest and most significant nuclear decommissioning programmes reflects not only our market leadership in nuclear engineering services but also our ability to successfully deliver highly complex projects in very demanding environments."

The NDA's full announcement is available from www.nda.gov.uk 

Enquiries

Babcock International Group PLC

Peter Rogers, Chief Executive Tel: 020 7355 5300Bill Tame, Finance DirectorTerri Wright, Head of Investor Relations

FTI Consulting

Andrew Lorenz Tel: 020 7269 7291Nick Hasell

Notes to Editors

Babcock International Group PLC

Babcock is the UK's leading engineering support services company with revenue of £2.9 billion in 2011 and an order book of £12 billion. Babcock is the largest specialist nuclear services business in the UK, with unrivalled experience as a UK site licensee and operator, and over 50 years' experience providing nuclear engineering support to UK civil and military markets. Managing vital assets valued at over £40 billion, Babcock delivers critical support to civil and military customers across many other sectors, including infrastructure, energy, defence, vehicle fleets, telecommunications, education and training. We take great pride in the considerable depth and breadth of our people's expertise. Our 27,000 skilled staff design, build, manage, operate and maintain assets that are vital to the delivery of many key public services, both in the UK and overseas. Our market-leading reputation is based on one key fact: Babcock is a partner that can be trusted to deliver™ (www.babcock.co.uk).

CH2M HILL

Headquartered near Denver, Colorado, USA, employee-owned CH2M HILL is a global leader in consulting, design, design-build, operations, and program management for government, civil, industrial and energy clients. The firm's work is concentrated in the areas of water, transportation, environmental, energy, facilities and resources. With US$7 billion in revenue and 30,000 employees, CH2M HILL is an industry-leading program management, construction management and design firm, as ranked by Engineering News-Record and named a leader in sustainable engineering by Verdantix. (www.ch2mhill.com)

URS Corporation

URS Corporation (NYSE: URS) is a leading provider of engineering, construction and technical services for public agencies and private sector companies around the world. The Company offers a full range of program management; planning, design and engineering; systems engineering and technical assistance; construction and construction management; operations and maintenance; and decommissioning and closure services. URS provides services for power, infrastructure, industrial and commercial, and federal projects and programs. Headquartered in San Francisco, URS Corporation has approximately 48,000 employees in a network of offices in more than 40 countries (www.urs.com).