Published date: 26 August 2022

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Closing: 6 October 2022, 12pm

Contract summary

Industry

  • Geological and geophysical consultancy services - 71351200

  • Seismic services - 71352100

  • Seismic processing services - 71352140

Location of contract

East Midlands, East of England, London, North East, North West, South East, South West, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, Northern Ireland

Value of contract

£3,000,000 to £5,000,000

Procurement reference

CF-0004500D4L000000iAvzUAE1

Published date

26 August 2022

Closing date

6 October 2022

Closing time

12pm

Contract start date

9 January 2023

Contract end date

8 January 2027

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (above threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements above the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No


Description

RWM (NWS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority ("NDA") and is the body responsible for implementing geological disposal of higher activity radioactive wastes. Government policy has confirmed that RWM will act as the developer of a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) for such wastes. As such, RWM is responsible for ensuring that the siting, construction, operation and eventual closure of a GDF are carried out in a manner which adheres to, and complies with, the UK's high standards of safety, security and environmental protection, as well as applicable requirements which are set out in relevant policy documentation.

RWM has identified Search Areas with adjacent inshore areas (offshore up to the 12 nautical mile UK territorial limit) to be investigated. The geological understanding of each area is different and is determined by the complexity of the geological setting, the amount of previously published information and the quantity and quality of legacy data (historic oil and gas seismic and well data, mining boreholes etc).

RWM are in the process of instigating Contract, RWM169 (Site Evaluation, Lot 2, underway) which is tasked with producing an initial understanding of the search areas, based on accessible public datasets (for example held by BGS or published in peer reviewed journals) and the outcomes of previous studies (such as NIREX). RWM also is undertaking a first look analysis of legacy oil and gas data, carried out under Contract RWM400 (Site Characterisation, underway). The output from these two works will be delivered as a series of databases, reports and an overarching synthesis report to this Contractor.

The next stage of work is this Site Characterisation Interpretation work package, which will enable RWM to move from the initial general understanding gained from the work carried out under RWM169 and RWM400, described above, to a more integrated site-specific understanding. This requires the evaluation of additional legacy data and new seismic data sets, being acquired by RWM. These additional data include further legacy 2D and 3D seismic and borehole data for all search areas, plus newly acquired seismic data, starting with a 250 km2 3D seismic volume for offshore Copeland (acquired by RWM in August 2022). Further seismic campaigns are being considered for other search areas.

The focus of this Site Characterisation Interpretation work will be on developing a fully integrated and detailed understanding of the potential GDF host rock volume for each site. This will include an evaluation of its geometries, including structural and stratigraphic variations, based on detailed analysis of the regional, sub-regional and site-specific sub surface.


About the buyer

Contact name

David Wood

Address

Harwell Campus
Didcot
OX11 0GD
GB

Email

david.wood@nda.gov.uk