The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

12 December 2011

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has today published a draft Business Plan 2012 – 2015 for consultation. The consultation will run from 12 December and close on 3 February 2012.

 NDA Draft Business Plan 2012-2015 (1Mb)

The Business Plan reflects the NDA Strategy published last March and sets out our key objectives and plans for delivering our priorities over the next three years. 

Tony Fountain, NDA Chief Executive said: "Our Business Plan for 2012/2015 sees us entering into the second year of funding allocated in the last Spending Review. This allows for an average expenditure of almost £3 billion a year in real terms over a four-year period. The focus of this year's Business Plan remains unchanged from last year, with the emphasis on delivery of commitments." 

The highest priority remains delivering and accelerating the work on the Legacy Ponds and Silos at Sellafield. The proportion of expenditure on these programmes has risen considerably and there is a greater sense of urgency and real progress on site. The new optimised route to Care and Maintenance across the Magnox fleet that was outlined last year has been successfully turned into firm plans which are already being taken forward. A similar approach is now being adopted at Harwell and Winfrith to secure a better outcome across the two sites. We have recently announced a preferred bidder to manage the Dounreay site to closure which will see overall cost savings and faster delivery. 

Tony Fountain continued: "as we said in last year's plan, pressure on our funding will continue. We remain committed to continuous, rigorous oversight of all activities to ensure we are spending taxpayers' money effectively and will continue to target further reductions in support and overhead costs in order to maximise funds towards front line activity." 

Our total planned expenditure for 2012/2013 is £3 billion, of which £2.3 billion will be funded by UK Government and £0.7 billion by income from commercial operations. Planned expenditure on site programmes will be £2.8 billion, while non-site expenditure is expected to be £0.2 billion. This non-site expenditure includes skills development, socio-economic support to communities impacted by our programmes, research and development, insurance and pensions costs, fees to SLCs, implementing geological disposal and NDA operating costs and other activities detailed in the draft Business Plan. 

The draft Business Plan sets out the key deliverables expected in 2012-2013 and describes how they meet our strategic themes of site restoration, spent fuels, nuclear materials, integrated waste management, business optimisation and the critical enablers that support them. The plan also explains what is expected of each of our Site Licence Companies and the sites they manage on our behalf. The £2.8 billion spend on site programmes is identified by SLC and on a site by site basis. 

We will be happy to receive comments on any aspects of the draft Business Plan and these will be considered. Subject to approval by both the UK and Scottish Governments, the final version of the Business Plan will be published by the end of March 2012.