Decisions that hold, and programmes that hold together.
Developers, vendors, site owners and operators commission this work before choices are made that are expensive to unmake, and when a programme is live and the risk sits in the gaps between workstreams. The people leading it have directed first-of-a-kind reactor and waste treatment megaprojects and taken new build from siting through commissioning.
What the practice covers
Siting, feasibility and optioneeringOptions assessment and the analysis that narrows themDelivery model and project developmentHow the programme will be organised, contracted and governedContract, tender and procurement supportWhat is being bought, from whom and on what termsProgramme leadership and integrationSenior leadership of programmes already under wayControls oversight and recoveryWhether the reporting reflects the programme as it isCommissioning and transition to operationDelivery readiness and the handover into operation
Siting, feasibility and optioneering
Options assessment and the analysis that narrows them
Site identification and appraisal, feasibility and the structured optioneering that takes a programme from many possibilities to a decision the board can defend.
ExampleA UK site identified and a formal letter of interest secured for a Gen IV vendor’s test reactor. A four-phase masterplan for repurposing a North Sea terminal.
Delivery model and project development
How the programme will be organised, contracted and governed
The delivery model, contract structure, supply chain and order of commitments that sit between a site and a final investment decision, with design assurance and cost and schedule oversight alongside.
ExampleA project delivery plan framework, gap analysis and roadmap for a first-of-a-kind small heating reactor.
Contract, tender and procurement support
What is being bought, from whom and on what terms
Contract definition, tender preparation and evaluation, and procurement strategy for owners and for suppliers bidding into nuclear programmes.
ExamplePre-tender package review, bidder identification and proposal evaluation for a Middle East national energy research centre.
Programme leadership and integration
Senior leadership of programmes already under way
Programme direction and the integration across engineering, construction and commissioning that no single team owns: interfaces, dependencies and the controls that tell a board what is actually happening.
ExampleTechnical management, configuration and change control and independent review across more than ten years of an EPR commissioning programme.
Controls oversight and recovery
Whether the reporting reflects the programme as it is
Independent oversight of programme controls, and recovery planning for programmes in difficulty: what has to change for the programme to become deliverable.
ExampleIndependent programme reviews of portfolios above £10bn led by NCL advisers.
Commissioning and transition to operation
Delivery readiness and the handover into operation
Commissioning strategy, process and governance from a clean sheet, the industrialisation of commissioning from first-of-a-kind to bulk, and the transition into operation.
ExampleCommissioning support sustained across more than ten years of pre-operations on the UK EPR programme.
Case studyConfiguration management for a Gen III+ replicationA new build project replicating a preceding design baseline had no configuration management foundation to replicate it against. NCL assessed the configuration items, reviewed the arrangements independently against ISO 10007 and IAEA guidance, and set the implementation strategy.
Leading the practice
Practice director David Raeburn
A service director is accountable for the standard of every deliverable in this practice and for the people who produce them. The consulting partner who takes an assignment stays with the client for the life of the work, and draws on this practice and the others around it as the assignment requires.
Safety, regulation and assuranceRelated practiceDigital deliveryRelated practiceStrategy, policy and investmentRelated practice