Sellafield: a new chapter
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Sellafield Ltd will start to write a new chapter in the history of the Sellafield site from today.
View of Sellafield site, west Cumbria
New arrangements see Sellafield Ltd, the organisation responsible for cleaning up the Sellafield nuclear site, becoming a subsidiary of the NDA, which is the public body responsible for the safe and efficient clean-up of the UK’s nuclear legacy.
The new subsidiary model will help Sellafield Ltd to build on, and accelerate progress in hazard and risk reduction and decommissioning and deliver it more efficiently. It will replace the Parent Body Organisation model, which from 2008 has seen Sellafield Ltd owned by private sector Nuclear Management Partners (NMP).
John Clarke, NDA CEO, said:
This is a new chapter for Sellafield. Without a commercially driven contract, the NDA and Sellafield Ltd will be working to exactly the same goal, safely delivering the mission as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Much progress has been made under the old arrangements but in the long term they are not suited to a site like Sellafield. The work that needs to be done at Sellafield is very complex, often difficult to define and spans many years. The new arrangements will accommodate the challenges at the site more easily and allow for longer term planning. The private sector will still be heavily involved in delivering work at Sellafield but no longer as an owner.
I would like to thank NMP for its support during this period of transition. With its cooperation, we have been able to develop the new arrangements and secure an excellent Sellafield Ltd executive team well in advance of today’s official change in ownership.
Paul Foster, Sellafield Ltd CEO said:
Model change is just the start of change at Sellafield. The business will fundamentally change when reprocessing at the site ends in 2020, which gives us a defined window of opportunity to evolve so we are best equipped to deliver our mission successfully. Underpinning the changes we’re making is a drive for greater efficiency. We need to make it easier to get work done.
The Sellafield Ltd workforce, supported by the supply chain, has delivered some fantastic achievements over the last eight years; including most recently removing the last bulk stocks of historic nuclear fuel from one of the site’s oldest storage ponds.
Working closely with the NDA, we will use these new simpler arrangements to build on the past and shape a successful future for the site, its workforce, supply chain and communities.