| Nuclear Decommissioning Authority launched | | Print | |
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The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority was launched on Friday, 1 April 2005 and has strategic responsibility for the decommissioning and clean up of all 20 of the UK public sector civil nuclear sites. The NDA was set up by the Government under the Energy Act 2004 and as of 1 April became responsible for the nuclear facilities currently managed by the British Nuclear Fuels plc and United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority including former research facilities, nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, waste disposal facilities and Magnox nuclear power stations. The NDA will not carry out the decommissioning work itself but has contracted out the work initially to British Nuclear Fuels plc and United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. These contracts will be subject to fair and open tender from suitably qualified organisations in the future. The decommissioning work, at all of the sites, will be carried out by the contractors also known as licensees in accordance with the annual work plans and five-year strategies developed by the NDA. The authority will be responsible for paying the contractors for the work and ensuring the taxpayer is receiving value for money. An incentive scheme will be in place to reward contractors for achieving set targets and goals on time. The NDA will work with the site contractors to promote best practice and share experience and knowledge on the decommissioning processes. It may fund scientific research when it is relevant to the clean up process. Preparatory work to establish the NDA has been underway for almost a year. This has included appointing a Chairman, Chief Executive and Board including publicly appointed Non-executive Directors. Executive Directors, who will lead a total staff of, ultimately, about 250, mainly based at the authority's Headquarters in West Cumbria, have also been recruited. Staff recruitment is underway and about half of its employees were in place for the launch on 1 April. NIA welcomes the launch of the NDA and looks forward to working closely with the Authority over the coming years. More details on the NDA's work programme and planned operations are available at www.nda.gov.uk |
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