Dounreay News 5 Feb 2009

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority wants companies to come up with plans showing how they would complete the clean-up if they were in charge of Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd. Later this year, interested companies will be given details about all the work that still needs to be done to do this. Each company then will have about a year to come up with their plan.

Late in 2010, the NDA will announce which plan it thinks is best. The company that submits this will then be allowed to take over DSRL.

Does this mean that DSRL itself won’t be one of the bidders?
That’s correct. DSRL is the prize.

And the prize includes the existing workforce?
Yes

Will I have to change employer?
No. The employees don’t move out, it’s the new owners who move in. They will fill a small number of key positions in the management structure of DSRL.

Do you know how many will come in from the new owners?
Not for certain, at this stage. But there are approximately 15 of these positions in the present company structure filled by UKAEA Ltd, CH2MHill and AMEC employees and the number is unlikely to be very different in future.

What will they want to do differently?
It isn’t possible to say at this stage. They might want to prioritise things differently or have other ideas about how to do some things. But, just as happens with the present owners, they must comply with the licence conditions, the environmental discharge authorisation, the security requirements and so on.

So what happens to our existing plan to decommission the site?
We get on and deliver it. Whoever takes over early in 2011 will have different ideas about how to do it, for sure. But until then, we get on and deliver what we have already agreed with the NDA.

Will the bidders be coming to my area of work to gather information?
No, this is most unlikely to happen. The competition will be controlled by the NDA, and very few people at the site are likely to be involved in providing help and information to the NDA.

What about my pay and conditions?
Your pay and conditions will still be the same on the day the new owners take over as they were the day before. After that, and depending on what they put in their plan, it will be up to the new owners to negotiate any changes.

And my pension?
The new owners will be in the private sector, so that means DSRL staff will be, too. The NDA has set up a new scheme that DSRL staff will move into called the Combined Nuclear Pension Plan (CNPP). Employees in Sellafield Ltd have already successfully transferred into the CNPP. The NDA has promised trade unions this will be “no less favourable” than the current scheme.

Are there any guarantees about future pay awards?
No. It will be up to the new management. Operating in the private sector, they will have different commercial constraints to that of the public sector, but having said that, our customer is still the NDA who will want to
keep expenditure within budgetcand the annual site funding limits.

Do we know who the bidders will be?
A number of UK and international companies have been identified publicly as bidders for other site licence
companies elsewhere. Sellafield recently was taken over by a consortium of UK, French and US business interests. Only one bidder has declared its interest publicly in Dounreay so far – a consortium of UKAEA, AMEC and CH2MHILL.

What is the message from our present management about what’s happening?
Don’t worry about it. During the competition phase over the next 18 months to two years, it should not have any impact on staff at all, so just concentrate on doing what you have been doing so well lately – delivering the clean-up safely and to time and budget.