Struggling firm is only UK company to tender for giant cover over Ukranian nuclear accident site

Cleveland Bridge, which this week announced a near £18m pre-tax loss for last year, has submitted its bid to help build a giant cover on the site of the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl.

The company is the only UK firm to price the job and has sent its tender off to Paris where main contractor, a team of Bouygues and Vinci, is based. A decision is due by the end of next month.

The French pair have already signed a £300m deal with state-owned company ChNPP to build a so-called "confinement shelter" at the former power station in Ukraine.

Around 20,000 tonnes of steel will be used in the project which will see the shelter assembled close to the site in a specially developed zone and then dragged into position. The shelter will be over 100m high and more than 150m long.

CBUK is up against Italian steel contractor Cimolai and an unnamed Turkish firm for the work. The contract carries a price tag of £40m.

Steel is being used because a concrete case put in the aftermath of the 1986 disaster is beginning to crumble and leak. Work on the scheme will last close to five years.

Topics