Recommendations & Conclusions
7 items
2
Recommendation
Twenty-Eighth Report - The Nuclear Deco…
Accepted
The uncertainty affecting the Magnox sites reflects a wider uncertainty about the costs and timetable of decommissioning the whole civil nuclear estate. According to the NDA’s most recent estimates it will cost the UK taxpayer £132 billion to decommission the UK’s civil nuclear sites and the NDA estimates that the …
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The uncertainty affecting the Magnox sites reflects a wider uncertainty about the costs and timetable of decommissioning the whole civil nuclear estate. According to the NDA’s most recent estimates it will cost the UK taxpayer £132 billion to decommission the UK’s civil nuclear sites and the NDA estimates that the work will not be completed for another 120 years. The largest proportion of this cost is to clean up and decommission the NDA’s largest site at Sellafield, but the cost to decommission the NDA’s Magnox sites is also substantial, as is the liability associated with decommissioning the next family of nuclear power stations, known as the Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors (AGRs). The money held in the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, which exists to fund the decommissioning of the AGRs specifically, was increased from £9.5 billion by an additional £5.07 billion this year to reflect the latest estimate of the work required. The NDA is consulting publicly about its strategy for cleaning up its nuclear sites. It may be possible to reduce the time it will take to fully decommission the sites of former nuclear power stations from around 85 years to more like 40–45 years. This could significantly reduce the long-term cost of decommissioning the sites as 40% of the overall decommissioning cost can be spent in maintaining, operating and safeguarding the sites while decommissioning activity is taking place. There is also an opportunity to save taxpayers’ money by accelerating the programme to create a deep storage facility, known as the Geological Disposal Facility, to store highly radioactive waste that is currently held 6 The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s management of the Magnox contract at interim facilities at Sellafield and the sites of former power stations elsewhere in the UK. The NDA and the Department are consulting the relevant regulators and interested communities to identify a suitable site for such a facility, but were not able to indicate a timeframe in which
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees to reduce decommissioning time, noting ongoing efforts and a summer 2021 target for strategy definition. It also commits to prioritising a geological disposal facility, stating a process is underway with an expected operational date by the 2040s, and is exploring near-surface disposal …
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HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Twenty-Eighth Report - The Nuclear Deco…
Accepted
A shortage of the right skills within the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and across the nuclear industry remains a significant barrier to progress. In our 2018 report on the failure of the Magnox contract we were highly critical of the lack of skills—particularly commercial skills—in the NDA. There is also a …
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A shortage of the right skills within the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and across the nuclear industry remains a significant barrier to progress. In our 2018 report on the failure of the Magnox contract we were highly critical of the lack of skills—particularly commercial skills—in the NDA. There is also a shortage of technical skills in the pipeline. Since then, the NDA has increased its focus on recruiting experienced staff to its own executive team and to the leadership of its subsidiaries which manage the sites on a day to day basis. But recruiting the right skills remains a significant challenge, particularly with the NDA and its subsidiaries competing with the private sector for the same people. It is encouraging that the NDA and the Department are attempting to meet the skills challenge with, for example, the introduction of the nuclear graduate scheme to increase capacity in the sector as a whole. It is also encouraging to hear that 46% of the latest cohort to the scheme were women. The Department says that it has made its own improvements in capacity and capability to oversee the NDA’s activities but, as we often see, salaries in the civil service mean that the Department risks losing skilled staff to private sector organisations in the industry. Recommendation: Within 6 months of publication of this report, the Department and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority should publish a detailed plan for how they plan to meet the demand for skills across the UK nuclear industry over the next 5–10 years.
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the recommendation and sets a target implementation date of Summer 2021. It commits the Department and NDA to work with the Nuclear Skills Strategy Group (NSSG) to review and potentially update the existing Nuclear Skills Strategic Plan, to meet the demand …
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HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Twenty-Eighth Report - The Nuclear Deco…
Accepted
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is not doing enough to exploit its various assets, either for the benefit of local communities or the UK economy as a whole. The UK was the first country to establish a civil nuclear power generation industry and is still a world leader in nuclear decommissioning. …
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The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is not doing enough to exploit its various assets, either for the benefit of local communities or the UK economy as a whole. The UK was the first country to establish a civil nuclear power generation industry and is still a world leader in nuclear decommissioning. It can point to some notable achievements in relation to the decommissioning of the Magnox sites alone, such as the successful defueling of all the Magnox reactors which has reduced the level of radioactivity on the sites by 95%, and the largest clean-up of asbestos waste to have been undertaken in Europe at Chapelcross. Furthermore, the NDA has provided advice and exported skills to other countries, including Japan in relation to the clean-up of Fukushima and the Ukraine in relation to Chernobyl. The NDA receives around £800 million a year in income from its commercial activities. Given the expertise and technologies which the NDA and the UK nuclear industry have developed over the years, there are further opportunities, in fields such as Artificial Intelligence and robotics, with export potential which could benefit the UK economy and provide jobs for people in local communities. The NDA also owns and occupies substantial amounts of land. It is encouraging to hear that around 50 acres of land at Harwell has been released and is currently home to a manufacturing centre for coronavirus vaccine. The NDA’s wider estate contains land which could be exploited for commercial and socially beneficial use and could provide much needed employment in nearby communities. Recommendation: The NDA should develop a strategy for maximising the economic benefits of developing and, where appropriate, exporting its knowledge and assets to alleviate the burden on the taxpayer. These include the skills and experience of the UK nuclear industry, the decommissioning technologies it has 8 The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s management of the Magnox contract developed, and the land and oth
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Government response AI summary
The government accepts the recommendation for the NDA to develop a strategy for maximizing economic benefits from its knowledge and assets, setting a Winter 2021 target and committing to annual reporting on progress.
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HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Twenty-Eighth Report - The Nuclear Deco…
Accepted
Public accountability is hindered by a lack of transparency about the scale and nature of the challenge of decommissioning and the performance of the NDA. Nuclear decommissioning will cost current and future generations of taxpayers’ substantial sums of money and has a significant impact on the lives of those who …
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Public accountability is hindered by a lack of transparency about the scale and nature of the challenge of decommissioning and the performance of the NDA. Nuclear decommissioning will cost current and future generations of taxpayers’ substantial sums of money and has a significant impact on the lives of those who live near one of the NDA’s sites. However, little information about, for example, the timescales for completing decommissioning work and returning land to communities is readily available to the public. Greater transparency about progress with decommissioning would improve public accountability, help to stimulate improved performance, and increase the visibility to local communities of the activities and opportunities available on NDA sites. Recommendation: NDA should be more transparent about its current and future plans with the local communities surrounding its 17 sites to strengthen public accountability and make clear the socioeconomic impact of its planned activities. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s management of the Magnox contract 9 1 Understanding and managing the burden of nuclear decommissioning on the taxpayer
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees and commits to NDA making specific efforts in its Spring 2021 Business Plan to explain decommissioning work site-by-site with transparent dates and expenditure. Furthermore, the NDA will update its economic impact assessments during 2021 and report back to the committee.
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HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
Twenty-Eighth Report - The Nuclear Deco…
Accepted
An informed understanding of the sites is important to develop reliable estimates of the potential costs and duration of decommissioning each site and to support decision- making about the most efficient ways to decommission them and the order in which they should be tackled. The NDA considers that reducing the …
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An informed understanding of the sites is important to develop reliable estimates of the potential costs and duration of decommissioning each site and to support decision- making about the most efficient ways to decommission them and the order in which they should be tackled. The NDA considers that reducing the time it will take to fully decommission some of the Magnox sites from around 85 years to something more like 40–45 years could reduce the long-term cost of decommissioning the sites.13 This is because around 40% of the cost to decommission a Magnox site is in maintaining, operating and safeguarding the sites while decommissioning activity is taking place. Accelerating decommissioning work could reduce these costs.14 A public consultation on the length of time it takes to decommission the sites will end in November, and when that is complete the NDA will consider its outcome and, in parallel, look at the impact on the 6 Qq 13, 15 7 Qq 3–4 8 HC Committee of Public Accounts, The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Magnox contract, Session 2017–19, HC 461, 28 February 2018, summary para 3 9 C&AGs report 2020, para 5, 2.9 10 Q 3 11 Qq 3, 4, 55 12 Qq 3, 4, 6, 7, 13, 15 ,16 13 Qq 13, 33 14 Qq 15, 33 The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s management of the Magnox contract 11 spend profile.15
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Government response AI summary
The government accepts the recommendation to reduce decommissioning time and cost, with a Summer 2021 target for new strategy definition. It outlines the NDA's ongoing efforts like the 'One NDA' approach and commits to future reporting in annual business plans.
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HM Treasury
8
Recommendation
Twenty-Eighth Report - The Nuclear Deco…
Accepted
There is also an opportunity to save taxpayers’ money by accelerating the programme to create a deep storage facility, known as the Geological Disposal Facility, to store highly radioactive waste that is currently held at interim facilities at Sellafield and the sites of former power stations elsewhere in the UK. …
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There is also an opportunity to save taxpayers’ money by accelerating the programme to create a deep storage facility, known as the Geological Disposal Facility, to store highly radioactive waste that is currently held at interim facilities at Sellafield and the sites of former power stations elsewhere in the UK. Current international scientific advice is that the best thing to do with this type of waste is to store it underground, and other countries are seeking to take this approach. The NDA told us it was working with the Department, the relevant regulators and interested communities to identify a suitable site for such a facility. In common with most other countries with a nuclear legacy, the Department is following a consent-based process to identify a suitable site, which by its nature means the Department must wait until it has a community that is giving consent. It told us if it is ultimately not possible to run a consent-based process, then there are alternatives available to it, but its clear preference is to go down that path and to give it every chance of success as a first priority. Due to the uncertainties of this process, the Department was unable to indicate a timeframe in which a Geological Disposal Facility might be completed.16 Maximising the potential of assets
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Government response AI summary
The government accepts the recommendation, stating that progressing the geological disposal facility is a priority, with a process underway and an expected operational date by the 2040s. It is also exploring near-surface disposal options for less hazardous waste.
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HM Treasury
9
Recommendation
Twenty-Eighth Report - The Nuclear Deco…
Accepted
While the cost of decommissioning represents a substantial liability for the UK taxpayer, the NDA was keen to point out that it also raises substantial income—around £800m a year—through commercial opportunities including the export of advice, skills and technologies to other countries with nuclear sites to decommission. The NDA has …
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While the cost of decommissioning represents a substantial liability for the UK taxpayer, the NDA was keen to point out that it also raises substantial income—around £800m a year—through commercial opportunities including the export of advice, skills and technologies to other countries with nuclear sites to decommission. The NDA has provided advice to, for example, Japan in relation to the clean-up at Fukushima, Ukraine in relation to Chernobyl, as well as the US, France and Canada. It told us that the UK was a world leader in nuclear power generation from the 1950s onwards and is now a world leader in decommissioning of civil nuclear sites, providing opportunities for growth in this area that could be exploited further to increase income, particularly when working internationally.17
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Government response AI summary
The government accepts the recommendation to maximize economic benefits from NDA assets, setting a Winter 2021 target. It states NDA's forthcoming strategy will address international opportunities and collaboration, with progress to be reported annually.
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HM Treasury