The NDA exceeded its targets for generating revenue, earning £1.2 billion of income to offset the total £3.3 billion annual budget that is spent on tackling the UK’s historical nuclear legacy.
The details are outlined in the Annual Report and Accounts for 2017/18, which reports on a year of progress across the 17 sites as well as organisational change to build a foundation for long-term success.
NDA Chief Executive David Peattie said that spending had remained below the annual limit set by government, while the income from reprocessing and management of spent fuels and waste had helped to offset the costs for taxpayers.
Mr Peattie, who was appointed in 2017, added:
Our mission remains unchanged, as does the relentless focus on cleaning up and decommissioning the UK’s civil nuclear sites and delivering value for the taxpayer, with the safety and security of people and the environment at the forefront of our minds.
My vision now is to build a stronger NDA Group, where all parts of our business are working together with a collective focus on delivering the mission more efficiently.
He said that changes to the organisation and its businesses would reflect learning from the Magnox competition and contract, with the key aim of improving delivery and building a foundation for long-term success.
The report highlights significant decommissioning progress across the estate including:
- Retrieval of radioactive waste from Sellafield facilities that date back to the very beginning of the nuclear industry.
- Start of a programme at the Dounreay Fast Reactor to remove fuel elements which had been trapped for decades
- Final preparations for Bradwell, in Essex, to become the UK’s first former Magnox power station site to enter a state of care and maintenance during the year, after all mobile hazards and the vast majority of buildings have been cleared.
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