The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Objective

• To restore our designated sites and release them for other uses

 

Site restoration is our primary focus and all other strategic themes support or enable its delivery. We can only restore our sites if we secure final management solutions for spent fuels and nuclear materials and establish effective waste management solutions.

Site restoration must take account of non-NDA liabilities located on our sites, such as those owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) or EDF Energy.

• Non-NDA Liability Management Strategy
  

The restoration of our sites presents a number of major challenges:

• legacy plants in excess of 60 years old containing significant quantities of corroding radioactive material which represent our highest risk and some of our largest hazards
• infrastructure which has been deteriorating for several decades
• land contamination resulting from a variety of past uses, including non-nuclear activities.

Our Strategy

 

The NDA's end goal is to restore our designated sites to the point where they are released for other uses. In order to prioritise delivery our site restoration strategy focuses on

• reducing risks to people and
• the environment

while restoring each site as soon as reasonably practicable to a condition suitable for its next planned use.  

Due to the unique and varied nature of our facilities and land, restoration is considered on a case-specific basis. We take into account a range of relevant factors, including the need to

• reflect Government policy and
• secure value for money.

Our approach is influenced by the level of risk to people or the environment, as shown in the diagram.  

Where the risks are intolerable we will take urgent action to reduce them.  

Where the risk is less significant our approach takes greater account of other factors. However, it is still focused on reducing risk and hazard as far as is reasonably practicable. We will monitor existing risk levels and act proportionately to ensure that the net level of risk does not increase in the long-term.  

We recognise that to deliver the reduction in risk and hazard that is core to our mission, we may need to accept near term increases in risk. We will work with our Site Licence Companies (SLCs) and the Regulators to safely manage this balance.

Underpinning Strategies

• Decommissioning:  To deliver Site End States as soon as reasonably practicable with a progressive reduction of risk and hazard.
• Land Quality Management:  To ensure that land quality is managed to protect people and the environment.
• Site End States: To define credible objectives for the restoration of each site (or part of a site).