Recommendation 25

We wrote to the Department and HM Treasury number of times (see Annex 1) after our evidence session and asked it to clarify what it had agreed with EDFE in terms of the land and buildings that will be transferred to the NDA, and how it planned to resolve any issues or disagreements between what will be transferred. Both departments responded and told us that a suite of legal agreements had been put in place which provided a framework for the transfer of assets and resources when sites were being decommissioned. They also explained that, in practice, the land required for decommissioning will be determined on a site-by-site basis, reflecting technical, operational, and regulatory requirements. We were told that joint planning work between EDFE, Magnox Ltd and NDA was underway to identify, prioritise and address matters relating to station transfer, and that this was “progressing towards a detailed joint plan for transfer starting with Hunterston B by the end of the year”. Further, if disputes were to arise in any of these areas, legally binding resolution procedures, as set out in the legal agreements governing the transfer, would come into force as well as governance and escalation forums if required.42