Turner & Townsend has anticipated the contents of the upcoming energy white paper by establishing a nuclear working party.

The nuclear team will be headed by Bill Woolgar, an executive board member. The main aim is to use its experience in project controls, programme management and cost management to focus on the best way to deliver nuclear power stations.

The white paper is likely to contain plans for up to 12 plants. It is expected to be published early next month.

Woolgar said: 鈥淲e think it will set out a fundamental shift of responsibility to the private sector to deliver the stations.

鈥淭here will be a number of challenges facing the industry as well as owners of the stations, vendors, regulators and the supply chain, and we will draw upon our experience in both the energy sector and projects such as BAA's T5 to provide the high degree of certainty which the private sector will require.鈥�
He added that forming alliances with other organisations as part of a strategy to win business in the nuclear sector was a possibility.