Saudi Arabia's Duwaiheen Nuclear Energy Company has received three bids for the project management consultancy package for the kingdom's first nuclear power plant.

According to a source close to the project, the following companies submitted proposals for the contract:

• Atkins (UK/Canada)
• Worley (Australia)
• Assystems (France)

Two of the three bidders have had previous engagements with the Saudi nuclear energy project. 

In July 2018, France’s Assystem was appointed to conduct a site characterisation study, environmental impact assessment and preliminary safety analysis report to assist with the selection of the preferred site for the kingdom’s first planned nuclear power project.

MEED understands a site at Khor Duwaiheen, on the coast near the UAE and Qatari borders, was subsequently chosen for the first project.

The same year, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-Care) appointed Worley for the project management office consultancy role for the nuclear energy programme. Worley is understood to have previously completed the Large Nuclear Power Plant (LNPP) site selection study for KA-Care.

KA-Care awarded three separate contracts for the project's legal, technical and financial advisory works.  It awarded a team led by UK-headquartered EY the financial advisory contract in May 2022. Legal and technical consultancy contracts for the project were signed earlier. 

In June this year, Riyadh-based Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) also invited firms to bid for the financial, legal and technical consultancy contracts to prepare and review project agreements related to the procurement of electricity from Saudi Arabia’s first nuclear power plant.

Nuclear holding company

While KA-Care remains the top entity looking after the kingdom's national atomic energy programme, the kingdom formed and announced the establishment of a holding company, the Duwaiheen Nuclear Energy Company, to develop nuclear power projects in the country, in March last year.

It is the client for the project management consultancy package as well as the main package to build the first phase of the Duwaiheen nuclear power plant.

2.8GW nuclear project

The 2.8GW-Duwaiheen nuclear power plant is expected to be procured using a traditional design-and-build model. 

Companies that are planning to bid for the contract to build Saudi Arabia's first nuclear power plant will likely get more time to prepare their proposals, MEED reported on 16 October.

"There is a likelihood that the Duwaiheen Nuclear Energy Company will extend the 31 October deadline," one source said, citing that Saudi Arabia is not necessarily in a hurry to build the plant. 

The ongoing conflict in Gaza is also not likely to help advance negotiations between the countries that have a key stake in the project, the source said.

MEED previously reported that the most likely bidders for the main contract are China National Nuclear Corporation, Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) and Russia’s Rosatom.

It appears that French company EDF has also been invited to submit a bid. 

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