The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

27 October 2010

The NDA and URENCO Ltd have signed a set of non-binding commercial principles to support a potential transfer of the NDA-owned Capenhurst site to URENCO. Formal discussions will now commence with an aim of achieving final agreement by mid 2011.

The proposal would transfer the NDA-owned land and operations to URENCO under a long lease and services contract. This is anticipated to reduce NDA's net liabilities for managing and clearing the site, provide continued employment opportunities for the site workforce and pave the way for URENCO to invest in new facilities as the nuclear renaissance begins to take shape. 

There are still a number of detailed issues to close out from a commercial perspective and to the satisfaction of our many stakeholders. If negotiations are successful, implementation of new arrangements will commence in 2012, subject to licensing and other approvals.  

Background

The Capenhurst site is split into two parts. One is owned by the NDA and managed and operated by contractor Sellafield Ltd, while the other is owned and operated by URENCO UK Ltd (UUK). The UUK part of the site is an operational uranium enrichment facility and is an entirely separate legal and commercial entity.

The NDA site is a former uranium-enrichment facility, which ceased operations in 1982. Since then, the focus has been on plant decommissioning, nuclear clean-up and the safe storage of uranium-derived materials, which are by-product of recycling used fuel at Sellafield and potentially reusable. The major elements of site decommissioning are now complete though it will continue to be used as a storage facility for uranic material until 2120.

Disposing of the site is in line with the NDA's functions, under the Energy Act 2004, to maximise its commercial assets. As part of this process, the NDA has recently disposed of four pieces of land for nuclear new build and transferred the Preston fuel manufacturing site at Springfields to Westinghouse.