The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

 

Tony Fountain's NDA looks set to be a more streamlined operation, with time and energy freed up to concentrate on the fundamental priority of dealing with the nuclear legacy.

Describing his approach as "simplified wiring", the new Chief Executive wants to reduce bureaucracy and address the financial squeeze that faces the entire public sector.

"My desire is to put our work in the context of the extreme pressure on funding – the most extreme in many, many years. At this early stage, I think the key priorities must be to ensure we increase the proportion of spend on the core mission, and reduce the amount spent on support activities and overheads," he said.

"We need to ensure our planning is closely related to the Government's Public Value Programme, to create a set of options that would be implemented if we were required to make cuts in expenditure. Against this backdrop, my overall thrust is to focus on ensuring the whole estate improves its levels of efficiency and execution."

The NDA's clean-up mission, he believes, is very clear. "I'm impressed by just how clear it is." Important secondary aims are to secure the best return from existing assets and make a positive difference in the communities that host the nuclear facilities.

Tony has many years of experience in the oil and gas industry and will be bringing an outsider's objectivity to nuclear decommissioning. As a student, his strengths lay in mathematics and science, and he chose economics because of its slant towards the commercial and international political world. He moved to BP after completing post-graduate studies at Oxford, and remained there until his recent move to the NDA.

His induction into the nuclear sector began with a taste of the clean-up challenges at Chapelcross power station in the Scottish borders.

After a guided tour of the heat exchanger asbestos-removal project and a look at defuelling in action, he voiced approval for the culture of safety and the professionalism of the site's workforce.

He was also struck by the sheer scale of the decommissioning challenge and the painstaking attention to detail at every stage.

A few weeks into the post, he is full of praise for the NDA's personnel as being highly motivated, talented and well qualified but notes that bureaucratic procedures can hamper efficiency.

"It's a cliché, I suppose, to say it's rather bureaucratic, perhaps because the organisation is highly regulated, perhaps because it's a public sector body, perhaps also because it's full of engineers - and engineers just love process. I do believe it can be freed up a bit … what I call simplified wiring."

"I would like to see the good people we have do their jobs, and for decisions to be made at an individual level rather than layers of committee decision-making."

The Chapelcross tour was followed by a visit to Sellafield, acknowledged to be one of Europe's most hazardous sites and "an extraordinary challenge".

Although impressed by the progress being made on cleaning up the ponds and silos, he felt there was room for greater efficiency. "The tough challenge is about priority spending – you don't necessarily get 100p in the £ at Sellafield," he mused.

Tony is based at Herdus House in Cumbria and is aiming to buy a property in Cockermouth, but will retain his home in Sussex, where his 15-year old daughter is based.

Cumbria is a region he knows and loves, having spent many a leisure break walking the fells or sailing the lakes. A passionate horse-rider, it looks like he will have precious little time in the months ahead to indulge any interest other than nuclear.