The NDA’s Martin Robb was proud to receive an invitation to attend Buckingham Palace earlier this month, in acknowledgement of his role in helping the UK Government deal with a backlog of radioactive material that’s been stuck in limbo around the country for years.
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.
Adrian Simper, NDA’s Director of Strategy and Technology, conveys the sense of collaborative achievement in nuclear clean-up that was evident at the world’s biggest gathering of global waste management organisations.
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.
Ron Gorham, Head of Supply Chain Optimisation and SME Champion, shares news of a new portal for smaller businesses to access a wide range of sub-contracting opportunities in UK nuclear decommissioning.
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.
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.