Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Accepted
Publish medium-term targets for Sellafield's key decommissioning activities and report annual progress.
Recommendation
The targets set for Sellafield Ltd neither support DESNZ and the NDA in holding it to account for poor performance, nor allow Sellafield Ltd to demonstrate it is making meaningful progress towards addressing the site’s hazards. In recent years, Sellafield Ltd has missed its most important hazard reduction targets more often than it has achieved them, often by considerable margins. While carrying out work safely must come first, safety cannot be used as a ‘get out of jail free card’ to excuse poor performance. We do not believe that the current target–setting process allows DESNZ and the NDA to distinguish between legitimate reasons for missing a target and underperformance on the part of Sellafield Ltd. Additionally, these annual targets do not allow Sellafield Ltd to show it 3 will be able to pick up the pace in future years in order to achieve the ‘key decommissioning milestones’ it has agreed with its regulators (some of which are decades away). These milestones mark a step–change reduction in the hazard buildings pose. To achieve them, Sellafield Ltd needs to fundamentally transform how the site functions – for example, in the case of MSSS, it wants to be removing 24 times as much waste as it did in 2023–24 within a decade. recommendation a. Sellafield Ltd should publish a set of medium–term targets which demonstrate it is on track to complete key activities within its assumed ‘strategic tolerances’. This should contain sufficient detail to give Parliament, and the public, confidence it has a credible plan to develop and sustain the necessary capabilities. b. It should then report annually on its progress against these medium–term targets. c. Alongside these medium–term targets, it should set out what actions will be needed, including clear milestones, to achieve a completely decommissioned site in the next hundred years. It should report progress against this every ten years.
Government Response Summary
The government agrees, stating the NDA will develop a consistent planning approach, deliver revised whole-life, 20-year, and 5-year operating plans, and define medium-term milestones. The NDA will also set out actions for achieving a decommissioned site, with progress reported annually. DESNZ will commission an independent review of the NDA Group by end-2025.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Company (OpCo) within the NDA group. These reflect the best estimate of key activities that need to be completed and/or new capabilities that need to be constructed to deliver the mission. The costs of delivering the plans are used to construct the nuclear provision. The approach to the construction of the plans varies significantly as they were initially developed by the previous Parent Body Organisations operating the sites. NDA will develop, under its annual target on Group Strategic Planning, a consistent planning approach for short, medium and long-term planning horizons, to unify the plans across the estate, enabling stronger integration between the OpCos and strengthening the Group planning capability. It will deliver revised whole-life plans, 20-year corporate plans, and 5-year operating plans for each OpCo. The NDA will define the outcomes to be delivered and the associated medium-term milestones/targets to enable continual monitoring of delivery performance at OpCo and group levels and inform management actions to maintain plan delivery within strategic tolerances. In addition, the NDA will set out what actions will be needed, including clear milestones, to achieve a completely decommissioned site. Once the medium-term targets and long-term actions have been determined and agreed they will be reported on annually through the Sellafield Ltd Executive and Board and the NDA. Work is required to establish how and then when this information would be made public, considering existing NDA public reporting mechanisms, such as the NDA Annual Report and Accounts, Strategy and Business Plan. In addition, DESNZ will commission by end-2025 an independent and externally led review of the NDA Group. This review will consider strategic planning and management to optimise Value for Money, project and programme delivery, financial management and the potential value of providing the NDA with longer-term financing and freedoms.