The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

20 February 2009

 

The creation this month, of Research Sites Restoration Ltd marks the completion of the restructuring of the nuclear estate taken over by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in 2005. The new company covers the Harwell site in Oxfordshire and the Winfrith site in Dorset. This follows on from the creation of Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd in April 2008. UKAEA will remain the parent body of both sites until competitions for new owners of the companies are completed.

In less than four years the NDA and its contractors have transformed the nuclear estate from two large public sector owner/operators – British Nuclear Fuels Ltd and UKAEA; to one where the 19 sites are now operated by seven Site Licence Companies under contract to the NDA which retains ownership of the sites themselves.

The creation of Site Licence Companies has allowed the NDA to proceed with a competition programme for their ownership, bringing in world-class expertise from the global supply chain to provide the leadership required to decommission and clean-up the civil nuclear estate safely, efficiently and cost-effectively.

Two competitions have already been completed successfully, for the Low Level Waste Repository Ltd and Sellafield Ltd. The formation of the Dounreay SLC allows the NDA to begin the competition for its ownership later this year. A single competition for the remaining three SLCs – Magnox North, Magnox South and Research Sites Restoration Ltd will follow the Dounreay competition and is due to be completed by the end of 2012.

The scale of this restructuring is considerable, involving a combined workforce of around 20,000 and an annual turnover in excess of £2 billion. The change in company structures meant that a new industry-wide pension scheme had to be created from scratch to ensure that workforce pensions were not detrimentally affected.

This scheme – the Combined Nuclear Pension Plan was set up by the NDA and workers join as their employer transfers to the private sector. The scheme now has 11,000 members and is planned to grow to more than 14,000 as the remaining competitions are completed.

The seven Site Licence Companies operating under contract to the NDA and the sites they manage are:

• Sellafield Ltd covering Sellafield (including Calder Hall and Windscale), Capenhurst and an engineering design centre based at Risley. The competition began in 2006 and the SLC was handed over to the successful bidder – Nuclear Management Partners, on 24 November 2008.
• LLLWR Ltd covering the Low Level Waste Repository near Drigg in Cumbria. The competition began in 2006 and was handed over to the successful bidder – UK Waste Management Ltd on 31 March 2008.
• Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd covering Dounreay in Caithness. A competition for this SLC is due to begin in 2009.
• Magnox North Ltd covering the Hunterston A, Chapelcross, Wylfa, Trawsfynydd and Oldbury sites. The competition for this SLC is due to be completed by the end of 2012.
• Magnox South Ltd covering the Berkeley, Bradwell, Dungeness A, Hinkley Point A and Sizewell A sites. The competition for this SLC is due to be completed by the end of 2012.
• Research Sites Restoration Ltd covering Harwell in Oxfordshire and Winfrith in Dorset. The competition for this SLC is due to be completed by the end of 2012.
• Springfields Fuels Ltd covering the fuel fabrication plant near Preston. This site is being considered as part of the NDA’s Asset Disposal programme and announcements on its future will be made in due course.