Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Last updated
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority logo.svg
Agency overview
Formed1 April 2005
Preceding
  • Coal and Nuclear Liabilities Unit
JurisdictionUnited Kingdom
Headquarters Moor Row, England, UK
Employees250 (subsidiaries about 15,000) [1]
Minister responsible
Agency executives
  • Tom Smith, Chairman
  • David Peattie, Chief Executive
Parent department Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Child agencies
Website www.nda.gov.uk OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (formerly the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) formed by the Energy Act 2004. It evolved from the Coal and Nuclear Liabilities Unit of the Department of Trade and Industry. It came into existence during late 2004, and took on its main functions on 1 April 2005. Its purpose is to deliver the decommissioning and clean-up of the UK's civil nuclear legacy in a safe and cost-effective manner, and where possible to accelerate programmes of work that reduce hazard.

Contents

Although the NDA itself employs about 250 staff, its subsidiaries employ about 15,000 staff across the NDA estate. [1] Its annual budget is £3.5 billion, the vast majority of which is spent through contracts with site licence companies, who also subcontract to other companies which provide special services. The NDA aims to do this by introducing innovation and contractor expertise through a series of competitions similar to the model that has been used in the United States.

In April 2017, the NDA lost a legal case in the Supreme Court regarding the procurement of a sizeable contract for the decommissioning of twelve different Magnox nuclear facilities when EnergySolutions EU (now called ATK Energy EU) challenged a decision in connection with ATK's unsuccessful bid. [2] In February 2018 Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) concluded that the NDA had "dramatically under-estimated" costs and "completely failed" in the procurement and management of the Magnox Ltd contract, which was one of the highest value contracts let by the government. An independent inquiry into the deal was set up. [3] [4]

Activities

Objectives

The main objectives of NDA are to:

Structure

Sellafield, NDA's largest site Aerial view Sellafield, Cumbria - geograph.org.uk - 50827.jpg
Sellafield, NDA's largest site

Responsibility for operating the sites has been restructured into five site licence companies (SLC). Management of the SLCs was formerly contracted out to different parent body organisations (PBO), some of which were initially owned by private companies. [5] More recently, the NDA has transitioned to a "group approach" of SLCs being wholly-owned NDA subsidiaries [6]

On its creation, the NDA also took over ownership of Direct Rail Services, the rail freight operating company set up by BNFL in 1995 to transport nuclear materials; and International Nuclear Services, which operates services on behalf of the NDA for the management and transportation of nuclear fuels. Both have since merged to become Nuclear Transport Solutions. [10]

The NDA is also the owner of Radioactive Waste Management (RWM), which is responsible for implementing a geological disposal facility in the UK and provide radioactive waste management solutions.

In February 2017, a national archive for the UK civil nuclear industry, named Nucleus, was opened in Wick, Caithness, Scotland. [11]

Costs

NDA increasing estimates of remaining cost of decommissioning and clean-up [12] [13]
Year of
estimate		SellafieldOther NDA sitesTotal
(£ billions, discounted)
2009-1025.219.945.1
2010-1132.716.549.2
2011-1237.215.652.9
2012-1342.016.958.9
2013-1447.917.064.9
2015-16117.443.3160.7
2017-18 [14] n/an/a234.1
2018-19 [15] 94.0
(undiscounted)		30.3
(undiscounted)		130.7
2019-20 [1] 96.5
(undiscounted)		35.1
(undiscounted)		134.9

In 2005, the cost of decommissioning these sites was planned at £55.8 billion, with Sellafield requiring £31.5 billion. [16] However, in 2006, the NDA reported that the cost of cleaning up existing waste was higher than previously thought, and gave a new estimated decommissioning cost of about £72 billion over a 100-year period. [17] In 2008, estimated decommissioning costs increased to £73.6 billion, or after taking account of discount rates, £44.1 billion. [18] A 2006 estimate foresaw £14 billion of offsetting income from reprocessing fuel at Sellafield. [17] In 2009, the NDA sold land near three existing reactor sites for expected new nuclear power stations, for over £200 million. [19]

In 2013, a critical Public Accounts Committee report stated that the private consortium managing Sellafield has failed to reduce costs and delays. Between 2005 and 2013, the annual costs of operating Sellafield increased from £900  million to about £1.6 billion. The estimated lifetime undiscounted cost of dealing with the Sellafield site increased to £67.5 billion. [20] [21] [22] Bosses were forced to apologise after projected clean-up costs passed the £70 billion mark in late 2013. [23] In 2014, the undiscounted decommissioning cost estimate for Sellafield was increased to £79.1 billion, [24] and by 2015 to £117.4 billion. [13] The annual operating cost will be £2 billion in 2016. [25]

In 2018, the discount rate used in evaluating future spending was changed from a HM Treasury determined real terms discount rate to a rate that combined a nominal discount rate and an implied inflation rate based on Consumer Price Index forecasts. This nearly halved the estimate of the remaining cost of decommissioning and clean-up. [15]

The expenditure of the NDA in 2022/23 was £3,759m and income £1,059m, leading to a net expenditure of £2,700m. [26]

National Nuclear Laboratory

In 2006, the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced his support for a National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) to be based on the British Technology Centre at Sellafield and Nexia Solutions. [27] The NDA, as the owner of Sellafield site and the funder of majority of research required across the nuclear estate, was involved establishing the NNL in 2009. The NNL complements other initiatives to develop a sustainable workforce such as the National Skills Academy for Nuclear (NSAN) network, including the development of Energus in West Cumbria, alongside complementary research and development facilities such as the Dalton Nuclear Institute.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sellafield</span> Nuclear site in Cumbria, England

Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nuclear power generation from 1956 to 2003, and nuclear fuel reprocessing from 1952 to 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnox</span> Type of nuclear reactor

Magnox is a type of nuclear power / production reactor that was designed to run on natural uranium with graphite as the moderator and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant. It belongs to the wider class of gas-cooled reactors. The name comes from the magnesium-aluminium alloy, used to clad the fuel rods inside the reactor. Like most other "Generation I nuclear reactors", the Magnox was designed with the dual purpose of producing electrical power and plutonium-239 for the nascent nuclear weapons programme in Britain. The name refers specifically to the United Kingdom design but is sometimes used generically to refer to any similar reactor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great British Nuclear</span> Nuclear energy and fuels company

Great British Nuclear, officially British Nuclear Fuels Ltd is a nuclear energy and fuels company owned by the UK Government. It is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority</span> UK government research organisation

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dungeness nuclear power stations</span> Decommissioned nuclear power plant in England

The Dungeness nuclear power stations are a pair of non-operational nuclear power stations located on the Dungeness headland in the south of Kent, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dounreay</span> Location of two former nuclear research establishments in northern Scotland

Dounreay is a small settlement and the site of two large nuclear establishments on the north coast of Caithness in the Highland area of Scotland. It is on the A836 road nine miles west of Thurso.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chapelcross nuclear power station</span> Decommissioned nuclear power plant in Scotland

Chapelcross nuclear power station is a former Magnox nuclear power station undergoing decommissioning. It is located in Annan in Dumfries and Galloway in southwest Scotland, and was in operation from 1959 to 2004. It was the sister plant to the Calder Hall nuclear power station plant in Cumbria, England; both were commissioned and originally operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. The primary purpose of both plants was to produce weapons-grade plutonium for the UK's nuclear weapons programme, but they also generated electrical power for the National Grid. Later in the reactors' lifecycle, as the UK slowed the development of the nuclear deterrent as the cold war came to a close, power production became the primary goal of reactor operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wylfa nuclear power station</span> Decommissioned nuclear power plant in Wales

Wylfa nuclear power station is a Magnox nuclear power station undergoing decommissioning. Wylfa is situated west of Cemaes Bay on the island of Anglesey, off the northwestern coast of Wales. Construction of the two 490 MW nuclear reactors, known as Reactor 1 and Reactor 2, began in 1963. They became operational in 1971. Wylfa was located on the coast because seawater was used as a coolant.

Sellafield Ltd is a British nuclear decommissioning Site Licence Company (SLC) controlled by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), a UK government body set up specifically to deal with the nuclear legacy under the Energy Act 2004. From 2008–2016, it was operated under licence from the NDA by a third party Parent Body Organisation called Nuclear Management Partners (NMP). Since the termination of the NMP contract it has been brought back under direct governmental control by making it a subsidiary of the NDA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant</span> Waived nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in England, UK

The Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant, or THORP, is a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria, England. THORP is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and operated by Sellafield Ltd.

Nuclear power in the United Kingdom generated 16.1% of the country's electricity in 2020. As of August 2022, the UK has 9 operational nuclear reactors at five locations, producing 5.9 GWe. It also has nuclear reprocessing plants at Sellafield and the Tails Management Facility (TMF) operated by Urenco in Capenhurst.

Nuclear decommissioning is the process leading to the irreversible complete or partial closure of a nuclear facility, usually a nuclear reactor, with the ultimate aim at termination of the operating licence. The process usually runs according to a decommissioning plan, including the whole or partial dismantling and decontamination of the facility, ideally resulting in restoration of the environment up to greenfield status. The decommissioning plan is fulfilled when the approved end state of the facility has been reached.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Low Level Waste Repository</span> Low-level radioactive repository in the UK

The Low Level Waste Repository is the UK's central long-term store for low-level radioactive waste located on the West Cumbrian coast near Drigg village and opened in 1959. It is a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunterston A nuclear power station</span> Decommissioned nuclear power plant in Scotland

Hunterston A nuclear power station is a former Magnox nuclear power station located at Hunterston in Ayrshire, Scotland, adjacent to Hunterston B. The ongoing decommissioning process is being managed by Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) subsidiary Magnox Ltd.

The National Nuclear Laboratory is a UK government owned and operated nuclear services technology provider covering the whole of the nuclear fuel cycle. It is fully customer-funded and operates at six locations in the United Kingdom. Its customers have included the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Sellafield Ltd, Westinghouse, the Health and Safety Executive, the Ministry of Defence, the UK Atomic Energy Authority, VT Nuclear and British Energy. It also has links with academia, including collaborative agreements on waste immobilisation and disposal with the University of Sheffield and on nuclear materials research with the University of Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trawsfynydd nuclear power station</span> Decommissioned nuclear power plant in Wales

Trawsfynydd nuclear power station is a former Magnox nuclear power station situated in Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, Wales. The plant, which became operational in 1965, was the only nuclear power station in the UK to be built inland, with cooling water that was taken from the artificial Llyn Trawsfynydd reservoir which also supplies the hydro-electric Maentwrog power station. It was closed in 1991. Its ongoing decommissioning by Magnox Ltd was expected to take almost 100 years, but in 2021 the Welsh government arranged for the power station to be redeveloped using small-scale reactors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnox Ltd</span> Government nuclear decommissioning company in the United Kingdom

Magnox Ltd, currently trading as Nuclear Restoration Services, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), responsible for the safe decommissioning of British nuclear sites. Originally created for the management of Magnox nuclear reactors, it went through various forms of organisation throughout privatisation of the nuclear industry, until coming into NDA ownership in 2019. It rebranded to NRS in October 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Nuclear Services</span> UK government nuclear fuels company

International Nuclear Services (INS) is a United Kingdom company involved in the management and transport of nuclear fuels. INS is based near Whitehaven, in Cumbria and is operated by Nuclear Transport Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK Government's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nucleus, the Nuclear and Caithness Archives</span>

Nucleus, the Nuclear and Caithness Archives is the national archive of the British civil nuclear industry and the archive for the County of Caithness. The archives were constructed by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and opened in 2017. Work continues at the facility to bring together all of the NDA's archive material from 16 separate sites. The Caithness county archives, dating from 1589 are also held at the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Gradden</span>

Dorothy Anne Gradden OBE is a British Nuclear Engineer for Sellafield Ltd. She leads the projects to decommission the large "legacy" ponds. These are nationally important projects as part of country's nuclear clean up operation on "Britain’s biggest and most hazardous nuclear waste site". In 2017 she was given an OBE and in 2019 the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority recognised her as a role model in their Safety and Wellbeing Awards.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "NDA Annual Report and Accounts 2019 to 2020". Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  2. ↑ Press Summary: Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (Appellant) v EnergySolutions EU Ltd (now called ATK Energy EU Ltd) (Respondent) [2017] UKSC 34 on appeal from: [2015] EWCA Civ 1262, 11 April 2017
  3. ↑ "NDA to take over management of Magnox sites". World Nuclear News. 3 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  4. ↑ "The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's Magnox contract". Public Accounts Committee. UK Parliament. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  5. ↑ NDA Confirms Names of New Site Licence Companies, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (14 February 2007)
  6. ↑ "Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Strategy effective from March 2021". gov.uk . Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  7. ↑ "Urenco takes on Capenhurst site". World Nuclear News. 30 November 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
  8. ↑ Magnox Limited Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine Magnox Sites (11 January 2011)
  9. 1 2 "DSRL and LLWR to become NDA subsidiaries". Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  10. ↑ "The NDA will bring its transport and logistics expertise together". www.gov.uk. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. 4 February 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  11. ↑ "National archive for nuclear industry opens in Wick". BBC News. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  12. ↑ Nuclear Decommissioning Authority - Progress on the Sellafield site: an update (PDF) (Report). National Audit Office. March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  13. 1 2 "Nuclear Provision: the cost of cleaning up Britain's historic nuclear sites". NDA. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  14. ↑ The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority: progress with reducing risk at Sellafield (PDF) (Report). National Audit Office. 20 June 2018. p. 27. ISBN   9781786042019 . Retrieved 10 July 2018. The discounted provision has more than tripled since 2015, increasing from £73 billion in 2015 to £234 billion, due to changes in HM Treasury's discount rates.
  15. 1 2 Annual Report & Accounts 2018/19 (PDF) (Report). NDA. 4 July 2019. pp. 84, 104, 163. HC 2425. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  16. ↑ NDA Strategy - draft for consultation (PDF) (Report). Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. 2005. p. 66. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 November 2009. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  17. 1 2 "Nuclear clean-up 'to cost £70bn'". BBC News. 30 March 2006. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  18. ↑ "Annual Report & Accounts 2007/08". Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  19. ↑ Danny Fortson and Dominic O’Connell (29 March 2009). "Prices soar as bidders fight for nuclear sites". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  20. ↑ "Sellafield clean-up cost reaches 67.5bn, says report". BBC. 4 February 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  21. ↑ Terry Macalister (4 February 2013). "Sellafield management sharply criticised by Commons committee". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  22. ↑ Nuclear Decommissioning Authority: Managing risk at Sellafield (PDF). Committee of Public Accounts (Report). House of Commons. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  23. ↑ Macalister, Terry (4 December 2013). "Sellafield bosses forced to say sorry over £70bn-plus cleanup costs". theguardian.com . Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  24. ↑ Gosden, Emily (23 June 2014). "Britain's nuclear clean-up bill soars to £110bn". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  25. ↑ "UK decommissioning agency lays out plans to 2019". World Nuclear News. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  26. ↑ "NDA Annual Report 2022 to 2023". Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  27. ↑ Alistair Darling announces the formation of the National Nuclear Laboratory Archived 2008-12-13 at the Wayback Machine , Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (30/06/06).
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