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Link to the study - European Parliament - Europa

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Nuclear Decommissioning: Management of Costs and Risks<br />

____________________________________________________________________________________________<br />

The opera<strong>to</strong>r has an internal authorization system on which its decisions are based, an<br />

independent internal commission and <strong>the</strong> umbrella organisation CIDEN.<br />

3.3. SELECTED EXAMPLE FROM UK: NDA-SELLAFIELD<br />

As part of <strong>the</strong> search for best practices, an example from UK is described in detail.<br />

3.3.1. Overall framework of <strong>the</strong> decommissioning project<br />

In <strong>the</strong> UK, <strong>the</strong> Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was set up under <strong>the</strong> Energy Act 2004<br />

(Energy Act 2004) is responsible for <strong>the</strong> decommissioning and <strong>the</strong> clean-up of 19 civil nuclear power<br />

plants. The NDA is a non-departmental body sponsored by <strong>the</strong> Department of Energy and Climate<br />

Change.<br />

The NDA contracts out <strong>the</strong> delivery of site programmes <strong>to</strong> Site License Companies. These contracting<br />

companies are <strong>the</strong> ones who are responsible for <strong>the</strong> day-<strong>to</strong>-day operations. That means that NDA<br />

itself does not directly manage <strong>the</strong> sites. NDA and <strong>the</strong> Site License Company agree on a Management<br />

& Operations Contract for <strong>the</strong> delivery of all work in accordance with specified terms and conditions.<br />

The Site License Companies each have a Parent Body Organisation which owns <strong>the</strong> share of <strong>the</strong> Site<br />

License Company for <strong>the</strong> duration of <strong>the</strong> contract with <strong>the</strong> NDA. The NDA and <strong>the</strong> Parent Body<br />

Organisation enter in<strong>to</strong> a contractual arrangement via a Parent Body Agreement. The Parent Body<br />

Agreement specifies <strong>the</strong> obligations of <strong>the</strong> Parent Body in areas such as financing, deployment of key<br />

resources and <strong>the</strong> enhancement of performance in key areas.<br />

In its business plan for 2013-2016 (NDA 2013a) <strong>the</strong> NDA characterizes <strong>the</strong> Sellafield site as its <strong>to</strong>p<br />

priority. This is why <strong>the</strong> following descriptions are concentrated on <strong>the</strong> Sellafield site only.<br />

Sellafield is a huge and complex nuclear site in West Cumbria, UK. It consists of <strong>the</strong> nuclear power<br />

plants Windscale and Calder Hall, <strong>the</strong> ponds and silos, reprocessing plants and o<strong>the</strong>r facilities which<br />

need <strong>to</strong> be safely decommissioned.<br />

Calder Hall was <strong>the</strong> world`s first commercial nuclear power plant being operated from 1956 until<br />

2003. Windscale comprises three reac<strong>to</strong>rs. Two were shut down in 1957, <strong>the</strong> third in 1981. In 1957 a<br />

fire damaged one of <strong>the</strong> reac<strong>to</strong>rs (Pile 1), which makes its decommissioning a 'significant challenge'<br />

(NDA 2011a).<br />

The roles and responsibilities of <strong>the</strong> different players in charge of <strong>the</strong> decommissioning at Sellafield<br />

are described in fur<strong>the</strong>r detail in <strong>the</strong> next chapter.<br />

The overall decommissioning strategy and programme is described in <strong>the</strong> Sellafield Plan<br />

(NDA 2011b). A first such plan was delivered in 2007, but it was criticized as not being underpinned<br />

and credible (House of Commons 2013). Therefore a new plan was developed and published in 2011.<br />

The NDA believes that this plan is credible but uncertainties remain.<br />

According <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> NDA`s business plan for 2013-2016 (NDA 2013a) its current focus is<br />

'<strong>to</strong> ensure <strong>the</strong> site remains safe and secure and <strong>to</strong> make demonstrable progress in tackling <strong>the</strong> high<br />

hazard legacy facilities on <strong>the</strong> site'.<br />

As stated in a White Paper of <strong>the</strong> Government (WPC 1995) decommissioning in <strong>the</strong> UK should be<br />

carried out 'as soon as reasonably practicable taking account of all relevant fac<strong>to</strong>rs'. But <strong>the</strong><br />

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