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On a Mission to Decommission

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority came into operation on 1st April 2005, with the purpose of delivering "a world class programme of safe, cost-effective, accelerated and environmentally responsible decommissioning of the UK's civil nuclear legacy in an open and transparent manner and with due regard to the socio-economic impacts on our communities." To find out more about the NDA's aims and the challenge ahead, Entec interviewed its Chairman, Sir Anthony Cleaver.

What is the rationale behind the formation of the NDA and what is its purpose?

About 3 years ago the view was taken that the UK would benefit from having a single organisation responsible for the decommissioning of all its civil nuclear sites. For the first time, there is now an organisation focused specifically on decommissioning, committed to ensuring that we get the very best practice applied. This is particularly important if you consider the potential cost of the programme could be over £50 billion - the tax payer deserves value. Our prime responsibility is the safe and cost-effective decommissioning of the sites, but we are also charged with doing that while being conscious of all the environmental issues, the socio-economic impacts, and ensuring that we have the necessary skills in the UK to carry this work out. Naturally there is a complex set of tensions between these needs, but our over-riding responsibility here is safety.

We have a very structured approach to it, and the UK is probably the only country that has the capability of pulling decommissioning together throughout the whole lifecycle for all our sites. We are required to have contracts in place on 10 sites by the end of 2008, so the challenge is now to get the system up and running within 2 years, and put in place the necessary competition rules so that we get the world's best contractors competing for the task.

How will the NDA approach the "open and transparent" part of the vision?

Stakeholder engagement will be key, and this is an area where there are many, many stakeholders, from local communities around the various sites to NGO's like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, through to Defra. We want there to be stakeholder site groups chaired by someone independent from the local community, and they will be the vehicles through which we will consult about each site. We will then pull together representatives from each into a national group to discuss the broader situation and gather in local and national views in all their diversity. There will be disagreements, but certain aspects will work in our favour. Firstly, we are a new organisation, so while we have no track record, I'd hope people will start without any bias against us. Secondly, we are going to be publishing our strategy which will lay out our thinking for each site, our current thinking on the broader programme, how we intend to address stakeholder issues, and the situation regarding competition for work and what we expect contractors to do. So we want everyone who has an interest to give us their views, share information as openly as possible, and help us achieve the best solution. People will undoubtedly disagree with elements of what we do, but if someone looks back in years to come and asks "how did they do?", I hope one of the answers will be that we never took a decision without understanding all the views that were relevant and appropriate and taking them into account. It will of course take time to build the public's trust, especially when issues are unavoidably complex. Remember also that the industry has been traditionally secretive, and there have been issues which weren't always dealt with openly in the past. So I think we have just got to try and make this a new benchmark: this is the way it happens from now on.

How will the programme be organised?

For each of the 20 sites we have a near term work plan (NTWP), which lays out the decommissioning program for the next three years - the work that needs to be done, the time-scale and the expected cost. The site licensed companies, either British Nuclear Group or UKAEA, will set about the work and report to us each month on their progress. For each site there is also what's called a Lifecycle Baseline - that's the broader plan overarching the NTWP that takes each site to the final designated position. In the period running up to each NTWP we will decide which projects on which sites are going out to competition and the term of any contracts. While it won't happen overnight, I hope that after a few years people will begin to see that the NDA has a programme, and like it or not, they are working to that programme, they do what they say they are going to do, and along the way there have been a few improvements.

What will be the focus in managing socio-economic impacts?

A key aspect of nuclear sites is their location, usually far from major communities, such as Sellafield in west Cumbria or Dounreay in the north of Scotland. As a result, the site is very often by far the biggest local employer, so anything that happens on the site has a disproportionate effect on the local community, including increases or losses of jobs. With all current sites now moving into the decommissioning phase, when operational work ceases a significant number of jobs will go. Our responsibility is therefore to understand the timescales and do our best to mitigate the impact, such as redeploying staff in decommissioning work where possible. We are entering into very extensive dialogue with not just the local community, but local councils, regional development agencies, educational establishments, and so on. We are looking to ensure that we have the skills we need as well as making the most of opportunities either within the programme, or in other industries that may emerge. Comparing the situation to the closure of the Rover car plant where thousands lost work overnight, we ought to be able to plan ahead, foresee the problems and work together with the community to find the best solution.

Can you tell us how the environmental performance of the programme will be managed?

Anything that is done on a nuclear site is monitored and regulated by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate as far as on-site nuclear issues are concerned, and anything that affects the boundaries of our sites and beyond comes under the jurisdiction of the Environment Agency or the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency. So we will be expecting our contractors to operate within this regime, and keep the environmental impact within the limits these agencies require. I expect standards will continue to be raised in this area, and there will undoubtedly be issues going forward. I do think the nuclear industry's record in meeting the prescribed limits is very good, though of course there are those that feel that those limits are not set at the right level. Stakeholder dialogues will have an effect on mitigating environmental impact, and we would also expect contractors to demonstrate their environmental performance from other work and bring new ideas to the table. The competitive process should bring innovation to this area, including learning from experience outside the UK.

Overall, what are the biggest challenges and what are your hopes for the future?

The challenge in the short term is to get our organisation up and running. From July last year when I was the only employee we're going to need around 220 people on board with the right skills to make this work, and most of those by the end of this year. We have an Executive Team in place and around 100 on board so far, which is a good start. That's the initial challenge. In the short to medium term the real challenge is understanding the best way of letting the contracts so that we really do safeguard all the things that worry people, with the over-riding incentive of doing a better job, faster, cheaper and safer wherever possible.

In the long term, our hope is to reach a situation where the people of the UK really believe that this problem is being addressed in the best way it possibly can. I think I'd like that as our epitaph.

For more information on the NDA's programme, visit www.nda.gov.uk. To discuss Entec's capability in the nuclear sector, call Phil Sinclair on 0191 272 6111 or visit www.entecuk.com.

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