News story: Top accolade for nuclear record-keeping

A winning design for Nucleus (The Nuclear and Caithness Archives) © Tricia Malley Ross Gillespie www.broaddaylightltd.co.uk

‘Place of Deposit’ (PoD) status was granted by The National Archives at Kew (TNA) and National Records of Scotland in December 2017, on schedule, after a comprehensive assessment of all operational aspects at the £20 million facility near Wick. It is one of the largest repositories outside London to be accredited by the TNA.

This means Nucleus (The Nuclear and Caithness Archives) has met all the UK’s stringent criteria for the safeguarding, preserving and cataloguing of important public information on behalf of the government.

Martin Robb, Programme Manager for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) Information Governance Programme, which is responsible for records management, said:

Our specialist contractor, Restore Ltd, has worked incredibly hard to secure Place of Deposit status and we’re extremely proud of their achievement.

The news comes just weeks after the facility’s sleek, angular lines impressed judges in the annual Architects’ Journal awards, collecting two of the top trophies: Editor’s Choice and Public Building of the Year. Edinburgh-based Reiach and Hall Architects feature the stunning design on the home page of their website.

Nucleus, located next to Wick airport in Caithness, Scotland, opened its doors for business early in 2017 and a programme is currently under way to transfer records from all the NDA’s sites across UK, estimated to take four years. This painstaking ‘sift and lift’ process requires millions of documents to be examined before being either destroyed or carefully indexed and packaged for the move north.

Eventually, decades-worth of NDA records, both digital and hard copy, will be housed at Nucleus where they will be available for ongoing research . Importantly, Nucleus is also the central repository for the vital waste records associated with delivering a geological disposal facility and deferred decommissioning.

Dounreay’s photographic collection was the set of first nuclear records transferred to Nucleus, followed by the industry-wide epidemiological records.

Martin added:

With PoD status now secured, we can really begin the full-scale transfer of records. The collection from Harwell is next in line, followed closely by Dounreay records and then the stored material from Hinton House and other stores in Warrington.

Each collection of records requires a full programme of careful examination, destruction where appropriate – duplicates for example – and then indexing, packaging, transfer, preservation if required and cataloguing at Nucleus.

Sellafield alone has more than 130,000 boxes of archived records in off-site storage, plus material on site and in various offices. Magnox Ltd, with 12 sites, has a similar-sized collection in storage – estimated as stretching, if laid out, to more than 120km worth of paperwork. The number of electronic records held across the estate, meanwhile, is believed to number hundreds of millions.

NDA archive: Nucleus (the Nuclear and Caithness Archives)



News story: Top accolade for nuclear record-keeping

‘Place of Deposit’ (PoD) status was granted by The National Archives at Kew (TNA) and National Records of Scotland in December 2017, on schedule, after a comprehensive assessment of all operational aspects at the £20 million facility near Wick. It is one of the largest repositories outside London to be accredited by the TNA.

This means Nucleus (The Nuclear and Caithness Archives) has met all the UK’s stringent criteria for the safeguarding, preserving and cataloguing of important public information on behalf of the government.

Martin Robb, Programme Manager for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) Information Governance Programme, which is responsible for records management, said:

Our specialist contractor, Restore Ltd, has worked incredibly hard to secure Place of Deposit status and we’re extremely proud of their achievement.

The news comes just weeks after the facility’s sleek, angular lines impressed judges in the annual Architects’ Journal awards, collecting two of the top trophies: Editor’s Choice and Public Building of the Year. Edinburgh-based Reiach and Hall Architects feature the stunning design on the home page of their website.

Nucleus, located next to Wick airport in Caithness, Scotland, opened its doors for business early in 2017 and a programme is currently under way to transfer records from all the NDA’s sites across UK, estimated to take four years. This painstaking ‘sift and lift’ process requires millions of documents to be examined before being either destroyed or carefully indexed and packaged for the move north.

Eventually, decades-worth of NDA records, both digital and hard copy, will be housed at Nucleus where they will be available for ongoing research . Importantly, Nucleus is also the central repository for the vital waste records associated with delivering a geological disposal facility and deferred decommissioning.

Dounreay’s photographic collection was the set of first nuclear records transferred to Nucleus, followed by the industry-wide epidemiological records.

Martin added:

With PoD status now secured, we can really begin the full-scale transfer of records. The collection from Harwell is next in line, followed closely by Dounreay records and then the stored material from Hinton House and other stores in Warrington.

Each collection of records requires a full programme of careful examination, destruction where appropriate – duplicates for example – and then indexing, packaging, transfer, preservation if required and cataloguing at Nucleus.

Sellafield alone has more than 130,000 boxes of archived records in off-site storage, plus material on site and in various offices. Magnox Ltd, with 12 sites, has a similar-sized collection in storage – estimated as stretching, if laid out, to more than 120km worth of paperwork. The number of electronic records held across the estate, meanwhile, is believed to number hundreds of millions.

NDA archive: Nucleus (the Nuclear and Caithness Archives)



Notice: Unlocking the Severn (Diglis, Lincomb, Holt, Bevere): Compulsory Purchase Orders

Updated: An additional map added to complement previous version. Environment Agency (Unlocking the River Severn) (Lincomb) Compulsory Purchase Order 2018 – revised August 2018.

These documents have been submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation of the Environment Agency’s making of the Compulsory Purchase Orders in relation of land by the River Severn at Diglis, Lincomb, Bevere and Holt, Worcestershire



Detailed guide: UKEF: Environmental, Social and Human Rights risk management

Environmental, Social and Human Rights policy

As part of our support to UK exporters and in line with our international commitments, we identify and, where appropriate, conduct due diligence to assess the Environmental, Social and Human Rights (ESHR) risks and impacts of projects we are asked to support overseas.

The Policy and Practice on ESHR Due Diligence and Monitoring statement informs exporters, banks, project sponsors and other interested parties on our arrangements for:

  • identifying ESHR risks and impacts and carrying out due diligence to be satisfied that, as far as practically possible, we support projects which should be constructed and operated in line with relevant standards
  • monitoring alignment of projects with relevant ESHR standards over the life of UKEF support

Our note on Human Rights and Social Risks and Impacts describes UKEF’s approach to identifying and managing social and human rights risks and impacts of projects we are asked to support overseas.

The ESHR flowchart shows the processes we follow when considering environmental, health, safety, social and human rights impacts.

The Export Guarantee Advisory Committee advises the Secretary of State for International Trade on our operations, including ESHR risks.

The Equator Principles

We adopted the Equator Principles in 2016. This is a global framework for ESHR decision-making in financing projects. Find out more about our commitment.

Our announcements

UKEF supports UK companies export all over the world. Our latest projects include:

  • Bee’ah’s headquarters, designed by the late Dame Zaha Hadid and built by Carillion, which will be the first building of its kind in the city of Sharjah to be powered entirely by renewable and recoverable energy sources, whilst using recycled materials in its construction

Category A projects

Category A projects are those with the potential to have significant adverse environmental and/or social impacts.

We update our list of Category A projects, whenever we consider or support a Category A project.

ESHR risk and impact categorisations

We publish data on new and existing ESHR risk and impact categorisations and contingent liabilities as part of our Annual Report and Accounts:



Statement to Parliament: Sky/Fox Merger – CMA Provisional Findings

Mr Speaker, I am here in my new capacity as the quasi-judicial decision-maker in relation to the proposed merger between 21st Century Fox and Sky Plc to update the House regarding the CMAs interim report that they issued today.

The decision-making role is one that my Rt Hon Friend, the Member for Staffordshire Moorlands discharged having met her commitment – given many times on the floor of this House – to the greatest possible transparency and openness the process allows.

And while I come to this fresh I intend to follow that process of being as open as possible while respecting the quasi-judicial nature of the decision.

Background and referral

As this House well knows, after the proposed acquisition was formally notified to the competition authorities last year, my Rt Hon Friend the Member for Staffordshire Moorlands issued an Intervention Notice on media public interest grounds – namely of media plurality and genuine commitment to broadcasting standards. This triggered a Phase 1 investigation of the merger, requiring Ofcom to report on the specified public interest grounds and the CMA on jurisdiction.

Having received advice from Ofcom and from the CMA, in September she referred the proposed Sky / Fox merger to the CMA for a Phase 2 investigation on both grounds.

CMA’s final report

The original statutory deadline for the final report was 6 March but the CMA has, today, confirmed that this will be extended by a further eight weeks and that the revised deadline is 1 May.

Once I have received that final report I must come to a decision on whether – taking into account the specified public interest considerations of media plurality and genuine commitment to broadcasting standards – the merger operates or may be expected to operate against the public interest.

Following receipt of the final report, I will have 30 working days in which to publish my decision on the merger – so if I receive the CMA’s report on 1 May that would be 14 June.

CMA’s provisional report

To be clear the publication today is the CMA’s provisional findings. I have placed a copy in the House Library.

With regards to the need for a genuine commitment to broadcasting standards – the CMA provisionally finds that the merger is not expected to operate against the public interest.

On media plurality grounds the CMA provisional finding is that the merger may be against the public interest. It cites concerns that the transaction could reduce the independence of Sky News and would reduce the diversity of viewpoints available to, and consumed by, the public. It also raised concerns that the Murdoch Family Trust would have increased influence over public opinion and the political agenda.

The CMA has identified three remedy approaches and seeks views from interested parties on them. These remedy approaches are:

Firstly, to prohibit the transaction.

Secondly, undertake structural remedies – either to recommend the spin-off of Sky News into a new company, or to recommend the divestiture of Sky News.

Thirdly, behavioural remedies which could for example include enhanced requirements around the editorial independence of Sky News.

The CMA also recognises that the proposed acquisition of Fox by Disney could address concerns set out in the provisional findings; however the uncertainty about whether, when, or how, that transaction will complete means the CMA has also set out potential approaches which include introducing remedies which would fall away subject to the Disney / Fox transaction completing.

The CMA has invited written representations on the provisional report’s findings, and the potential remedy approaches, with 21st Century Fox and Sky – as well as other interested parties – before producing a final report.

As such, and given the quasi-judicial nature of this process, I hope the House will understand that I cannot comment substantively on the provisional report before us and I must wait for the final report before I comment.

I am, however, aware of the keen interest of the House on this important matter. I know that Right Honourable and Honourable Members will be closely scrutinising the CMA’s provisional findings and will have views on them.

The CMA’s investigation will continue over the coming weeks – it has set out the process for making representations on the remedy options outlined, and on the provisional findings, with deadlines of 6 February and 13 February, respectively. I feel sure that today’s debate will provide helpful context for that work.

Next steps

What I am able to confirm today is that – I will undertake to keep the House fully informed, and follow the right and proper process considering all the evidence carefully when the time comes to make my decision on receipt of the CMA’s final report.

I commend this statement to the House.