The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

26 October 2006

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has today, 26th October 2006, published its first full Annual Report and Accounts, covering its first year of operation (1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006). The NDA also publishes today its Health, Safety, Security and Environment Report for the same period.

Sir Anthony Cleaver, Chairman of the NDA, said:

"In our first year of operation we have established an organisation with the necessary skills and experience to deliver our strategic approach to decommissioning and cleaning up the UK's civil nuclear sites. I am very pleased with the progress we have made to date and I am confident that we can address the inevitable challenges ahead as we embark on the environmental restoration of Britain's nuclear legacy."

The Annual Report and Accounts sets out a number of key achievements taken forward during the reporting period, these include:

Developing common reporting standards across our sites to allow proper comparison of Safety, Security and Environmental performance

Building a highly experienced team drawn from both private and public sectors

Achieving cost savings of £124 million in our first year of operations having incentivised our contractors to achieve more work than planned for less cost, safely, securely and with proper regard to the environment

Developing and publishing a comprehensive strategy, including a competition timetable, following widespread consultation with stakeholders, setting out how we will work with regulators, private sector contactors and public bodies to deliver an optimised decommissioning programme and ensure value for money for tax payers

Creating the foundations for a competitive market in decommissioning and cleanup

Establishing a programme to develop a robust baseline cost by 2008, against which we can seek to drive down decommissioning and clean-up costs. Over the past year we have improved the definition of the work to be done and the likely costs arising and we will continue to do this going forward. The latest version of our Lifetime Plans - which detail the commercial operations, decommissioning and clean-up programmes of our 20 sites - now show a total cost of £64.8 billion, a net increase of £2.1 billion, resulting largely from an improved understanding of dealing with the facilities at Sellafield.

Making good progress in engaging with stakeholders – fundamental to the successful delivery of our remit – establishing independently chaired Site Stakeholder Groups for all our sites alongside a National Stakeholder Group

Investing in skills through the creation of a Nuclear Institute and Chair in Epidemiology, and support for a National Nuclear Skills Academy

The Health, Safety, Security and Environment report is also published today. This records the progress achieved in creating a Nuclear Safety, Security and Environment Directorate, with a Director accountable to the NDA Chief Executive but with an independent reporting line to the NDA Chairman; the creation of common reporting standards across all NDA sites allowing proper comparison of safety performance across sites for the first time; and specific requirements on contractors to improve safety and environmental performance.

The 2005/6 report indicates that there has been no overall reduction in safety or environmental performance. In some areas performance has reached a plateau compared with the significant improvements that occurred between 2000 and 2004.

To ensure continuing safety improvements, the NDA will place a contractual requirement on contractors to improve safety and environmental performance and will continue to monitor the site licence companies' performance.

Dr Ian Roxburgh, NDA Chief Executive, said:

"We have come a long way as an organisation in a very short period but I am very much aware of how much more there is to do. Safety, security and environmental considerations remain paramount to us and I am confident that, as the HSSE Report demonstrates, we have put in place a robust system to monitor and enforce our requirements."
"I am also pleased that we have been able to establish a culture of transparency and engagement with our stakeholders as we have developed our strategic approach to decommissioning. Over the next year we will move from strategic development to delivery and I believe we have the organisation and people in place to deliver safe, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible decommissioning of the UK’s civil nuclear liabilities."