Nuclear Decommissioning Authority: Draft Business Plan 2023 to 2026 for consultation
Detail of outcome
In December 2022 the NDA published its draft Business Plan 2023 to 2026.
Our consultation on the Plan ran for eight weeks, from 12 December 2022 to 6 February 2023. We are conscious that the timing of our annual Business Plan consultation may cause difficulties for some stakeholders wanting to respond, but we are constrained to the current planned period due to the timing of seeking consultation responses and following the required approvals process. We will continue to review and improve the consultation process within the current constraints.
Consultees were able to respond by email or post. The consultation ran in accordance with the criteria set out in the Cabinet Office’s Consultation principles guidelines.
Read our final Business Plan 2023 to 2026.
Original consultation
Consultation description
The Draft Business Plan reflects the Strategy published in 2021 and sets out key activities and the progress the NDA expects across all its sites during the next 3 years, in line with the funding allocated by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
The NDA seeks to maintain progress and maximise value for money by focusing on the highest hazards, whilst ensuring that safe, secure and environmentally responsible site operations are maintained across its estate.
Strategic outcomes that are due to be met in the three-year period, demonstrating major progress against our mission include:
- all exotic fuel defueled
- the end of plutonium and uranium separation
- all uranium consolidated
- all overseas high level waste exported
This year has seen major milestones completed including the closure of the Magnox Reprocessing Plant at Sellafield after 58 years and waste retrievals beginning from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo - one of the NDA’s highest hazard facilities.
There have also been benefits of a simplified, stronger NDA group, including the development of group-wide strategies on topics such as sustainability. Pioneering and innovative steps are being taken across the NDA estate to maintain the commitment to become carbon net zero by 2050, and 2045 in Scotland.
There has been a focus in investing in communities living near NDA sites. The NDA Group Social Impact programme invests approximately £15 million per year in building a lasting social and economic legacy for future generations, leveraging millions more in the process.
The Business Plan also includes updated assumptions for when Magnox site end states will be reached, defined as the physical condition to which the site will be taken at the end of the decommissioning process, taking into account factors such as safety, community requirements and environmental sensitivities.
Given most end states will not be achieved for decades, the new assumptions are a best estimate of the earliest end date, based on a number of dependences, assumptions, risks and exclusions and are subject to site specific strategy development and approval.
The focus is on developing credible options to set direction which will be continually reviewed and optimised using the latest learning from across the estate, considering new technologies and innovative approaches and taking into account other influencing factors such as government policy and funding.
Consultation guidelines
The consultation will run for eight weeks, from 12 December 2022 to 6 February 2023 in accordance with the criteria set out in the Cabinet Office’s Consultation principles guidelines. We want to hear from anyone who has a comment on any aspect of this document. In your response, please tell us whether you’re replying as an individual or representing the views of an organisation. If you’re acting on behalf of an organisation, please tell us its name and, if applicable, how you gathered the views of its members.
When looking at the responses, we’ll give greater consideration to those that are based on evidence, rather than personal expressions of support or opposition.
You can respond by letter or email using the contact details below. Please address all responses to NDA Business Planning, Business Plan Consultation.
Confidentiality and data protection
Any information we receive in response to this consultation, including personal data, may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with UK information access legislation (the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004), unless suitable exemptions/exceptions apply. If you want the information that you provide to be treated as confidential please let us know, but be aware that we cannot guarantee confidentiality in all circumstances. For example, an automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system won’t necessarily be binding on the NDA. Please refer to Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance on information provided in confidence for more detail.
Most of the personal information we collect and process is provided to us directly by you. This could include your name, email address, and anything that could be used to identify you. It is an essential part of the consultation process, so that we can contact you regarding your response or for statistical purposes. The NDA is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. Our Personal Information Charter explains your rights and gives you the information you are entitled to under data protection legislation (the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation). If you would like to exercise any of these rights please contact our Data Protection Officer. If you are dissatisfied with the way we have processed your data you may also contact the ICO.
Additional copies
You may make copies of this document without permission. If you need us to send you a printed copy, please email our business planning team.
Next steps
We’ll consider responses to the consultation and revise this draft document as appropriate.
Subject to approval by the UK and Scottish Governments, we’ll publish the final version of our Business Plan before the end of March 2023.
Documents
Last updated 21 April 2023 + show all updates
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Final outcome published
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First published.