A visionary campus that’s training young people in science and engineering has opened its doors after being transformed from old research labs at Berkeley power plant – a first of its kind from the NDA.
David Peattie, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's recently appointed CEO, shares his thoughts on progress in cleaning up the UK's earliest nuclear sites, as the NDA publishes its annual report and accounts for 2016/17.
NDA Research Manager Rick Short reflects on a two-day technical conference that brought together 100-plus industry representatives, PhD researchers, academics from the UK and overseas scientists – all committed to shedding new light on some long-standing complexities associated with nuclear decommissioning.
Site Assessment Group leader David Edwards explains how his team of multi-disciplinary specialists has been carrying out in-depth scrutiny of on-the-ground decommissioning work at some of the earliest nuclear sites as well as the latest nuclear archive project. The group aims to build a comprehensive understanding of progress to support NDA teams that are based off site.
Martin Leafe, Director, Spent Fuel Management at Sellafield Ltd, explains how, over the next four years, the commercial reprocessing of spent fuel will end, and the site will move to full-scale decommissioning, remediation and waste management. This important change of focus is one of the milestones outlined in the draft NDA Business Plan.
Chris Hope, who’s on secondment to the NDA, from Sellafield, is urging organisations to sign up tp one of four brokering events around the UK as part of a competition to distribute nuclear innovation funds totalling £3 million.
Melanie Brownridge, Head of Technology, outlines how this competition is part of NDA's ongoing commitment to seek innovation across all its sites and encourage news ways of working that are safer, faster and cheaper.
Scott Raish, a Site Closure Director for Magnox Ltd, explains how Bradwell nuclear site in Essex will, in 2019, be the first of 11 Magnox sites across the UK to have its reactors and waste stores safely sealed for several decades. This is a significant future milestone from the latest NDA draft business plan, which we seek your views on.
Pete Knollmeyer, Chief Nuclear Officer for Magnox Ltd, explains why being declared ‘fuel-free’ is so important for the final Magnox reactor site. This milestone is due to be achieved within the next 3 years, the period covered by NDA's business plan that is currently available for consultation.
Gary Snow, Head of the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo Programme at Sellafield, explains how a simplified, ‘lead and learn’ approach has meant waste will be retrieved earlier than previously planned, costing £250m less, from the UK’s oldest nuclear waste storage facility – leading to a significant new milestone in the NDA’s draft business plan for 2017 to 2020.
John Clarke, NDA CEO, introduces the plan for the next 3 years of work to clean up 17 of the UK's earliest nuclear sites. He encourages people to understand the complexities of this task that is likely to endure for decades, involving thousands of workers across the UK who will accelerate work wherever safely possible.