| NDA announces further competition details | | Print | |
|
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) – the government bodty responsible for the management of the UK's legacy nuclear sites - has today announced that: Following the successful conclusion of the competitions to select and appoint new Parent Body Organisations (PBOs) for the Sellafield Site Licence Company and the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) near Drigg in Cumbria, the NDA is today announcing the PBO competition strategy for the remainder of the civil nuclear estate under its ownership. Over the next four years the NDA intends to run a further two PBO competitions to complete the process of introducing new delivery partners to assist the NDA in its clean-up mission. The first of these will see the selection of a PBO for Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL). DSRL is currently owned by UKAEA and manages and operates the Dounreay site near Thurso in Scotland. The second competition will select a single PBO for three Site Licence Companies: Magnox North Limited, Magnox South Limited, Research Sites Restoration Limited (ie Harwell and Winfrith). NDA Chairman Stephen Henwood said: “We are on track to complete our first round of competitions by 2012, in line with our strategy approved in 2006. The decision to proceed with Dounreay next supports our policy of dealing with the highest hazards first.” It is expected that the competition to select a PBO for DSRL will be launched in the late summer of 2009. This is in order to provide sufficient time for market engagement and to embed the lessons learned from the Sellafield and LLWR competitions already completed. Contract award for DSRL is expected to be achieved by the end of 2010. A further announcement from the NDA on the detailed competition programme will follow in the first quarter of 2009. The competition to select a single PBO for Magnox North, Magnox South and Research Sites Restoration Ltd will follow and is expected to commence in 2011 and be complete by the end of 2012. And in related news: Prospect – the union representing 15,000 engineers and scientists in the nuclear industry - welcomed today’s announcement. Prospect National Secretary, David Luxton, said: "Dounreay is well placed for the long-awaited competition process to commence. The Dounreay workforce have responded positively to the challenge of external competition despite ongoing uncertainties about the level of NDA funding. "The biggest challenge they face now is securing sufficient government and private investment in new technologies and infrastructure to replace the high quality jobs in Thurso and surrounding areas. The competition process will at least ensure that the remaining decommissioning can be completed to the highest standards and with secured stable funding." Commenting on the Magnox competition package, Prospect National Secretary, Mike Graham, said: "We welcome the delayed timetable. This will allow the competition to get its act together in order to get a realistic bid for the Parent Body Organisation that will be responsible for running decommissioning for the three site licence companies (Magnox North, Magnox South, and UKAEA). The larger competition bundle will also make it more attractive to the market. "But Prospect does have concerns about the savings that can be achieved by economies of scale, and we will insist on no compulsory job losses. We also need to ensure that the NDA provides secure and stable funding for all the Magnox and UKAEA Research Sites (Harwell and Winfrith). These sites were particularly hard hit earlier this year with 100 redundancies arising from a sharp reduction in NDA funding, which directly impacted on the decommissioning process." The union has pledged to work closely with the current owners of the three site licence companies to ensure a smooth transition to the competition phase, due to commence in 2011. Comments (0)
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
