| UKAEA to halve the time and cost of its nuclear clean-up | | Print | |
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UKAEA announced today that it has cut the estimated cost of the clean-up programme on its nuclear sites by almost a third to £4.8 billion from its previously published figure of £6.3 billion - representing a £1.5 billion saving to the tax-payer. It has also cut the end-date for decommissioning its nuclear sites by up to 35 years. The new cost estimate, together with the progressive elimination of UKAEA's liabilities, achieved over the last ten years, represents a 44% reduction since 1994. The reduced estimates have been achieved by key breakthroughs on every site: bringing forward reactor decommissioning; finding innovative solutions for decommissioning work including the use of technologies from other industries; avoiding the need to build new facilities by shortening the lifetimes for which existing facilities need to operate; introducing parallel working; integrating projects into site-wide programmes with shared facilities; and cost-effective treatment of fuels. Recent reductions in infrastructure costs have also allowed UKAEA to put more resources into front-line decommissioning. The revised forecasts are contained in long-range plans submitted to the Government and regulators in preparation for the launch next April of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The site by site breakdown of undiscounted estimated costs and accelerated site programmes is as follows: Winfrith: Completion of decommissioning brought forward from 2050 to 2015 Reduction in estimated clean-up cost from £0.72 billion to £0.44 billion Harwell: Completion of decommissioning brought forward from 2049 to 2025. Reduction in estimated clean-up costs from £1.0 billion to £0.82 billion Windscale: Major decommissioning programme brought forward to 2015 including removal of the damaged fuel and isotopes from the Windscale Piles. Reduction in estimated clean-up costs from £0.71 billion to £0.60 billion Dounreay: Completion of decommissioning brought forward from 2063 to 2036 Reduction estimated clean-up costs from £3.70 billion to £2.70 billion. Culham: JET operations extended from the end of 2006 to 2008 to support the fast-track development of fusion. Liabilities held at £0.26 billion |
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