16 Apr (NucNet): The remediation of “all intolerable risks” in the legacy ponds and silos at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria remains a priority, with planned expenditure at the site for the financial year 2014-2015 of 1.8 billion pounds (GBP) (3 billion US dollars, 2.1 billion euros), the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has said.
According to the NDA’s business plan, which covers the financial year beginning April 2014 to the financial year ending March 2017, the NDA intends to decommission redundant facilities at Sellafield while maintaining and upgrading infrastructure across the site in a bid to sustain operations.
Priorities at Sellafield for 2014-2015 are the redundant legacy ponds and silos facilities, made up of the pile fuel storage pond, pile fuel cladding silo, first generation Magnox storage pond and Magnox Swarf storage silo.
These facilities supported the development of the nuclear programme in the UK from the early 1950s. Latterly, they have supported generation from the fleet of Magnox power stations and are in need of clean-up and decommissioning.
Tasks include the removal of nuclear fuel, sludge and solid material which require the provision of equipment to retrieve the various wastes and then treat and store them in passive conditions, the NDA said.
Total planned expenditure across all 17 NDA sites for 2014-2015 is GBP 3.2 billion pounds of which GBP 2.2 billion will be funded by the UK government and GBP one billion by income from commercial operations.
NDA chief executive officer John Clarke said Sellafield is “by far the most complex and challenging” site. He said the NDA will continue to monitor performance closely.
The NDA is entering into the second five-year term of a 17-year contract with Nuclear Management Partners (NMP) for the management and operation of the Sellafield site.
In February 2014, a UK parliamentary committee said NMP had its contract extended in October 2013 despite “spiralling costs and poor performance”.
The committee criticised poor progress in nuclear decommissioning and reprocessing activities at Sellafield by NMP, a consortium made up of URS of the US, British company Amec and France’s Areva Group.
The committee said timescales at Sellafield have slipped, costs have escalated substantially and reprocessing targets have been missed.
The NDA said in its business plan: “During 2013 we undertook an extensive review of progress made to date and concluded that the right decision was to give NMP further time to bring about the improvements in capability and performance at the site that we and they are looking for. “
Each of the NDA’s sites is operated by site licence companies (SLCs) under contract to the NDA. SLCs are responsible for day-to-day operations and the delivery of site programmes.
