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The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body
Non-departmental public body

In the United Kingdom, a non-departmental public body is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and Scottish public bodies to certain types of public bodies....
 of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 formed by the Energy Act 2004. It came into existence in late 2004, and took on its main functions on 1 April 2005. Its purpose is to deliver the decommissioning
Nuclear decommissioning

The decommissioning of nuclear power plants is sometimes referred to as nuclear decommissioning, to mark the difference between 'conventional' decommissioning and dismantling projects....
 and clean-up of the UK’s civil nuclear legacy in a safe and cost-effective manner, and where possible to accelerate programmes of work that reduce hazard. The NDA aims to do this by introducing innovation and world class contractor expertise through a series of competitions similar to the model that has been used in the US.






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The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body
Non-departmental public body

In the United Kingdom, a non-departmental public body is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and Scottish public bodies to certain types of public bodies....
 of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 formed by the Energy Act 2004. It came into existence in late 2004, and took on its main functions on 1 April 2005. Its purpose is to deliver the decommissioning
Nuclear decommissioning

The decommissioning of nuclear power plants is sometimes referred to as nuclear decommissioning, to mark the difference between 'conventional' decommissioning and dismantling projects....
 and clean-up of the UK’s civil nuclear legacy in a safe and cost-effective manner, and where possible to accelerate programmes of work that reduce hazard. The NDA aims to do this by introducing innovation and world class contractor expertise through a series of competitions similar to the model that has been used in the US. The NDA took ownership of the sites involved, but the operational work itself is carried out by contractors.

Responsibility for operating the various sites has been restructured into seven Site Licence Companies.

  • Sellafield Ltd (whose Parent Body Organisation is Nuclear Management Partners Ltd): This Site Licence Company comprises Sellafield
    Sellafield

    Sellafield is a nuclear processing and former electricity generating site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England....
     nuclear chemical facility (previously BNFL
    BNFL

    British Nuclear Fuels plc or BNFL manufactures and transports nuclear fuel , runs reactors, generates and sells electricity, reprocesses and manages spent fuel , and decommissions nuclear plants and other similar facilities....
    's British Nuclear Group
    British Nuclear Group

    Sellafield Ltd is a subsidiary of BNFL. One of it main aims is to manage the decommissioning of many of the UK's nuclear assets under contract to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a government body set up specifically to deal with the nuclear legacy under the Energy Act 2004....
     subsidiary), including Calder Hall, Windscale and the Capenhurst
    Capenhurst

    Capenhurst is a village and civil parish in Chester , Cheshire, England and located on the Wirral Peninsula to the south west of the town of Ellesmere Port....
     uranium
    Uranium

    Uranium is a silvery-gray metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table that has the chemical symbol U and atomic number 92....
     enrichment plant


  • 10 other Magnox
    Magnox

    Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons....
     nuclear power stations which have been restructured into two Site Licence Companies:
    • Magnox North Ltd:This Site Licence Company comprises Chapelcross; Hunterston A; Trawsfynydd; Wylfa and Oldbury
    • Magnox South Ltd: This Site Licence Company comprises Berkeley; Bradwell; Dungeness A; Hinkley Point A and Sizewell A


  • Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd: This Site Licence Company comprises the Dounreay
    Dounreay

    Dounreay is the name of a now ruinous castle on the north coast of Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland. The castle is within grounds used by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and the Ministry of Defence , and the site is best known for its five nuclear reactors, three owned and operated by the UKAEA and two by the Minist...
     site only


  • Research Sites Restoration Ltd (currently owned by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
    United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority

    The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority was established in 1954 as a statutory corporation to oversee and pioneer the development of nuclear energy within the United Kingdom....
     (UKAEA)): This Site Licence Company comprises the Harwell and Winfrith
    Winfrith

    Winfrith was a United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority site located near Winfrith Newburgh in Dorset. It opened in 1958 and was used for nuclear reactor research and development until the 1990s....
      facilities


  • LLW Repository Ltd (whose Parent Body Organisation is UK Nuclear Waste Management Ltd (UKNWM Ltd)): : This Site Licence Company comprises the Low Level Waste Repository
    Low Level Waste Repository

    Low Level Waste Repository is the UK's Low Level Waste Repository located on the Cumbria approximately six km south east of the Sellafield nuclear site at Drigg....
     near Drigg
    Drigg

    Drigg is a village situated in the civil parish of Drigg and Carleton on the West Cumbria coast of the Irish Sea and on the boundary of the Lake District National Park in the county of Cumbria, England....
     in Cumbria


  • Springfields Fuels Ltd (whose Parent Body Organisation is Toshiba
    Toshiba

    is a multinational corporation list of conglomerates manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company's main business is in Infrastructure, Consumer Products, and Electronic devices and components....
    's Westinghouse Electric Company
    Westinghouse Electric Company

    The Westinghouse Electric Company is a multi-national nuclear reactor technologies company, a part of the original Westinghouse Electric . The company's operations incorporate various nuclear services, nuclear power plant, nuclear fuel, inspection equipment, advanced welding services, and remote handling equipment to utilities and government...
     subsidiary): This Site Licence Company comprises the Springfields nuclear fuel production facility near Preston, Lancashire


In 2005 the cost of decommissioning these sites was planned at £55.8 billion, with Sellafield requiring £31.5 billion. However in 2006 the NDA reported that the cost of cleaning up existing waste was higher than previously thought, and gave a new estimated decommissioning cost of about £72 billion over a 100 year period. In 2008 estimated decommissioning cost increased to £73.6 billion, or after taking account of discount rate
Discount rate

File:Bundesbank discount rate 1948 to 1998 fill grid.svgThe discount rate is an interest rate a central bank charges depository institutions that borrow reserves from it....
s £44.1 billion.

On its creation, the NDA also took over ownership of Direct Rail Services
Direct Rail Services

Direct Rail Services is a freight operating company created by British Nuclear Fuels Limited. The company started rail operations in 1995 using five heavily refurbished British Rail Class 20 diesel locomotives....
, the rail freight operating company set up by BNFL in 1995 to transport nuclear materials.

In 2006, the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced his support for a National Nuclear Laboratory to be based on the British Technology Centre at Sellafield and Nexia Solutions. The NDA, as the owner of Sellafield site and the funder of majority of research required across the nuclear estate, is involved in discussions with Government on the best way to take this project forward.

A National Nuclear Laboratory
National Nuclear Laboratory

The United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory is a government owned commercially operated fully customer-funded nuclear technology service provider with a pivotal position in the global nuclear industry....
 will complement other initiatives to develop a sustainable workforce such as the National Skills Academy for Nuclear (NSAN) network, including the development of Energus in West Cumbria, alongside complementary research and development facilities such as the Dalton Cumbria Institute. All are reflected in the NDA Strategy.

See also

  • Nuclear power in the United Kingdom
    Nuclear power in the United Kingdom

    As of 2006, the United Kingdom operates 24 nuclear reactors generating one-fifth of its electricity . The UK also has major nuclear reprocessing plants, including Sellafield....
  • Energy policy of the United Kingdom
    Energy policy of the United Kingdom

    The current Energy Policy of the United Kingdom is set out in the Energy White Paper of May 2007, building on previous work including the 2003 Energy White Paper and the Energy Review Report in 2006....
  • Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
    Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom

    Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom have been receiving increased attention over recent years. Key factors behind this are the UK Government's commitment to reducing carbon dioxide, the projected 'energy gap' in electricity generation, and the increasing reliance on imports to meet national energy needs....
  • National Nuclear Laboratory
    National Nuclear Laboratory

    The United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory is a government owned commercially operated fully customer-funded nuclear technology service provider with a pivotal position in the global nuclear industry....


External links

  • , BBC, 11 August 2005
  • , BBC, 30 March 2006
  • , Steve Thomas (2004), Public Services International Research Unit, University of Greenwich
  • , Bellona Foundation
    Bellona Foundation

    The Bellona Foundation is an international environmental organization established in 1986 and based in Oslo, Norway. The organization was established by Frederic Hauge and Rune Haaland....
    , 4 April 2005
  • , Bellona Foundation
    Bellona Foundation

    The Bellona Foundation is an international environmental organization established in 1986 and based in Oslo, Norway. The organization was established by Frederic Hauge and Rune Haaland....
    , 18 January 2005