A new contract model for nuclear fusion construction projects launched this week could be used on future UK schemes, a legal expert has said.<\/p>\n
The Collaborative Contract for Integrated Fusion Project Delivery was developed by EU organisation Fusion for Energy (F4E) and King’s College London’s Centre of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution.<\/p>\n
The new contract is based on the FAC-1 framework alliance contract form, which is itself part of the NEC suite. FAC-1 is designed to unite consultants, contractors, and suppliers under a single agreement to work on a project or a series of projects.<\/p>\n
Dr Roxana Vornicu, from the centre, who helped to draft the new contract, told Construction News<\/em>:\u00a0\u201cWe’ve got a contract that is adapted to the challenges of the fusion industry, while also using a form structure which has been tested and proven to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n If applied to a nuclear fusion construction programme, the new contract would see the design phase delivered under a \u201cpure alliance\u201d model whereby partners generally agree not to pursue legal action against each other, Vornicu said.<\/p>\n In the construction phases, traditional or bespoke forms of contract would be deployed.<\/p>\n In creating the new contract, its drafters said they have applied lessons learned on the ITER Tokamak complex which is currently under construction on a 180-hectare site in the South of France.<\/p>\n They also consulted contractors, suppliers and other industry stakeholders in the UK during the drafting process, said Vornicu.<\/p>\n She added that the new contract functions as a \u201cmodel for SMEs\u201d, as it includes a mechanism for early supply chain involvement and supply chain collaboration.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can affirm that you will integrate SMEs, but unless you give them a voice during contract performance, you haven’t really integrated them, because you need to listen to them,\u201d Vornicu said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to hear what their proposals are in terms of their challenges, but also in terms of innovation, and you can only do that with a contractual system that brings them to the table. This model has this system.\u201d<\/p>\n Vornicu said it would have been \u201cadvisable\u201d to apply the new contract to the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) facility in Nottinghamshire, for which tendering has already begun..<\/p>\n