Press Release 31 March 2010

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is today (31 March) publishing its Business Plan. The Plan confirms expenditure of £2.8 Billion for the next year (2010/11) across the NDA’s estate of 19 sites built in the post-war days of the UK’s early nuclear programme.

As part of its mission the NDA operates a number of commercial nuclear operations including electricity generation and reprocessing for domestic and foreign customers. This next year income of £1.15 Billion is expected to be generated to help fund the decommissioning programme.

Tony Fountain NDA Chief Executive Officer said:

“Our work programme is moving at speed and we have achieved much in our first five years. But, it has never been more important for the NDA to focus on value for money as we seek to progress our clean-up mission over the next year and beyond.”

Substantial progress has been made in restructuring the industry to allow international private sector expertise to be brought in via competitions to manage our sites. This year will see progress in the next competition to select a new Parent Body for Dounreay, the NDA’s second most important site.

Funds will continue to be prioritised towards reducing risks at the most hazardous sites, with £1.5 billion of expenditure planned at Sellafield for the coming year.  This will include the completion of the Evaporator D structure – a vital component of the reprocessing programme which reduces the Highly Active Liquid waste stored on site. This is the single biggest construction project anywhere in the UK nuclear industry, estimated to cost £400 million.

Given the tight fiscal environment, it is essential that further efficiency savings are made with targets set for the Site Licence Companies to deliver a £30 million reduction in overhead and support costs alone in the coming 12 months.

“Through a combination of better plans, more efficient delivery and cost savings achieved we will continue to deliver efficiency gains for the taxpayer across our estate. At the same time, we are driving improvements to the organisational effectiveness of the NDA that will reduce HQ running costs this year by 20% from previously planned levels (approximately £12 million)” said Fountain.

NDA Press Release

The last of more than 10,000 drums of Magnox Depleted Uranium (MDU) left Chapelcross this week, signifying the reduction of a major hazard associated with the UK’s civil nuclear legacy. Read it all..

 Press Release 

The pace of the Dounreay competition continues to gain momentum, with the NDA announcing the publication of the Contract Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

The publication of the Contract Notice coincides with the second part of the Industry Event on 9 March in Glasgow and marks the start of the prequalification period of the Dounreay Parent Body Organisation (PBO) Competition.

The event on 9 March is to provide the market with key information about the specific requirements and process for the competition, as well the expectations of key stakeholders and regulators. Read it all..

Press release

Trawsfynydd celebrated a major milestone yesterday when its new Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) Store was officially opened – marking a first for a Magnox site. Read it all..

Press Release

Caithness welcomes a raft of first-time visitors this month, as nuclear industry representatives arrive for the launch of the two-part Dounreay Industry Event on the 5th February.

 The first part of the event, which will be held at the Wick Assembly Rooms, is being hosted by the Dounreay Stakeholder Group, with support from the NDA. Read it all..

The programme of returning solid Highly Active Waste (HAW) from Sellafield to overseas customers, announced in September last year, began this week. Read it all..

The National Skills Academy for Nuclear in partnership with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is rolling out a fourth round of their Bursary award scheme.  Read it all..

Press Release NDA

The world’s deepest nuclear clean-up job has won its 4th top award for engineering excellence.

Judges in this year’s Scottish Saltire Awards named the shaft isolation project at Dounreay as one of the country’s best examples of civil engineering. Read it all..

NDA Press release

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is pleased to announce that today, following a period of market engagement and negotiation with interested parties, it has sold an area of land comprising 190 ha (470 acres) lying to the north of the existing site at Sellafield in Cumbria for a value of at least £70 million. The winning consortium comprises Iberdrola S.A, GdF Suez S.A and Scottish and Southern Energy plc. Read it all..

The NDA is seeking views on a draft charter that aims to foster good working relations throughout its supply chain. Read it all..