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Linklaters’ global nuclear practice within our wider Energy & Infrastructure team, covers every aspect of the nuclear fuel cycle, from the mining of uranium and the fuel supply, through corporate structuring, regulation, licences, construction, operating and maintenance contracts, financing and development of sites and decommissioning of obsolete plant and treatment of spent fuel. We have a reputation for advising on some of the most strategic and complex deals across the globe and have reviewed the documentation from all angles.
We provide a full-service legal solution for nuclear assets to governments, corporates (including operators), lenders, investors and regulatory bodies.
Our nuclear team has unrivalled experience of structuring projects in the nuclear sector. For example:
Linklaters has extensive experience in all aspects of the fuel cycle, from mining uranium, trading in uranium, enrichment facilities, long-term fuel supply contracts, reprocessing contracts and long-term waste storage facilities. We have advised on uranium mining projects in Russia, Namibia, the Ukraine, Chad and DRC as well as on mining joint ventures and M&A.
Linklaters also has a strong history of advising clients on supply agreements, including for plants in the UK, Germany and Slovakia.
Regulating risk has emerged as one of the most significant issues for the construction, completion and commissioning of nuclear power plants. Linklaters’ lawyers have been closely involved in examining these issues from a regulatory point of view and working on the development and implementation of key policy changes in this area. We also have first-hand experience of working with regulators in the UK, France, Germany, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, the U.S. and the European Union (such as EURATOM and IAEA), including advising the UK on the development of a new business model for new nuclear.
We believe we have unparalleled recent experience in the negotiation of EPC or EPCM arrangements for new nuclear power plants. For example:
We have advised on the licensing applications and consents required. Usually one licence is issued per site, but we have also worked in jurisdictions where there are several differing licences.
Linklaters has extensive experience of the issues which arise under operating and maintenance contracts, both for large power projects and, particularly, for those in the nuclear industry, which have unique features. For the most part, there are not operational contracts in place for nuclear power plants because of the overriding licensing and regulatory regimes, although we have acted on several management and operating contracts in the sector.
Linklaters have been involved in several key deals which look at different financing structures for nuclear projects. For example:
Nuclear decommissioning is complex and appropriate contractual structures are required. Linklaters advised a consortium of BWXT, Serco and Bechtel bidding for the long term management and operating contract for the decommissioning work at the Sellafield site, which included the THORP reprocessing site and the MoX fuel plant and associated issues. Our advice included the consideration of the nuclear liability indemnity which is a major consideration for US companies bidding for nuclear decommissioning work.
We also acted for Euratom on a number of Eastern European projects. These companies were required to include full technical plans for how the plant would be decommissioned and were required to be updated every 5 years and such plans agreed with Euratom. This structure has been adopted in several jurisdictions and members of our team worked closely with the UK government when establishing the recent legislative reforms in respect of decommissioning funds.
We have also drafted regulations for the Lithuanian state in respect of decommissioning funds and we have negotiated extensively with the Slovakian, Bulgarian and Romanian states on making changes to their current regimes to enable new nuclear plants to be effectively and efficiently funded.
Linklaters' nuclear team offers market-leading expertise across the full range of issues which shape the international nuclear industry.
Find out more about our experience on nuclearExplore further topics across the Net Zero System
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