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EnergySolutions said Monday it was invited - along with other nuclear companies - to join a competition to kick off construction of the United Kingdom's next generation of nuclear reactors.
The Times of London reported Sunday that a partnership led by EnergySolutions and Toshiba Corp.'s Westinghouse division is in the race against British Energy to construct a new reactor in north Wales. If EnergySolutions were to get the contract, it would be the Salt Lake City-based company's first effort to help build a new reactor.
"We will confirm we have been responding to requests for information," said company spokesman John Ward, emphasizing that no contracts have been signed.
Ward noted that Great Britain's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), an agency overseeing the nation's nuclear-reactor cleanups, has requested proposals from a number of companies.
"There's probably a lot of companies that would be interested," he said.
EnergySolutions last year bought a company involved with 10 nuclear sites in Britain, two with operating reactors and the remainder being dismantled. Looking ahead, as the two remaining reactors prepare to shut down over the next two years, the NDA has requested proposals for what to do with the reactor sites, Ward said.
Building a new reactor at Wylfa on the island of Anglesey in north Wales is one idea that could be lucrative for the company that gets it. The British government estimates a reactor would cost about $5.5 billion, according to The Times.
EnergySolutions got its start two decades ago as a disposal site for low-level radioactive waste.
The mile-square Tooele County facility is one of three of its kind in the United States. It has a controversial request pending with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to dispose 1,600 tons of waste from the decommissioning of Italy's nuclear program.
Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, said a government review of Great Britain's nuclear program resulted in a pro-nuclear conclusion.
"At the same time, they have a lot of problems," he said, noting that an EnergySolutions cleanup at British Energy and in Sellafield are "having problems."
"EnergySolutions has no background or expertise in building reactors," he added.
Over the past few years, EnergySolutions has expanded its portfolio to include a full range of nuclear services. It employs 5,500 people, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom.