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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nuclear-decommissioning-authority-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021/nda-annual-report-and-accounts-2020 Get on until 2021
This overview section provides an in-depth introduction to our work during 2020/21 and highlights the areas of progress made this year. We have described these using our 5 strategic themes.
Since joining the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in September, I have had the honor to see how we successfully deal with some of the most complex nuclear decommissioning issues in the world.
This work is vital to the country, and in this role, I want to use my experience to lead the board of directors to ensure that the NDA achieves its ambitious operational and cultural goals.
My predecessor, Tom Smith, served as chairman for 3 years, during which time he established a solid platform and provided valuable guidance in guiding the NDA’s leadership of the UK’s nuclear cleanup program. I want to thank Tom for his contribution and support during my transition to this role. I am also happy to welcome Professor Francis Livens to the board of directors. Francis brings depth and breadth of nuclear expertise, which will help us continue to guide our mission. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Michelle Heath for her contribution to the board of directors and wish her every success in her new career.
When I joined the board of directors, it was clear that the NDA and its team, under the leadership of David Peattie as CEO, embarked on a new track, moving towards a collaborative approach to common goals, rather than a commercial contract-led approach.
NDA is an organization with a clear vision and reasonable strategy, which has laid a solid foundation for our development.
Looking back at last year’s events and activities, the COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented environment for organizations around the world. NDA is no exception.
Our company, stakeholders, employees and their families have all been affected. In these difficult times, our focus has always been to provide unwavering support for the well-being of our employees.
Recognizing the impact of this on mental health and the problems faced by people working at home and in isolation has always been a priority. Likewise, we recognize the very different challenges experienced by those who continue to operate our website during the pandemic.
In this crisis, individuals, groups, and communities have found ways to adapt, perform their basic duties, and most importantly, stay safe. For NDA, this applies to many of our employees and stakeholders, both at work and in the communities around our factories. Our entire group of employees quickly adapted to the ever-changing reality, that is, we need to suspend non-essential work plans at the site, work from home as much as possible, and ensure that we have a safe workplace at the site and office where we continue to do basic work.
There are major uncertainties and unpredictability in 2020/21. In many respects, this year has tested our operational capabilities and resilience. A test we passed. Some projects and plans will inevitably be suspended or slowed down, which has some impact on our task delivery.
Despite the challenges of COVID-19, our mission is to safely, reliably and cost-effectively clean up the UK’s first nuclear power plant while protecting people and the environment. As an all-encompassing nuclear decommissioning company group, we are developing in a new direction, fully adopting the “single confidentiality agreement” approach, and maximizing the benefits of cooperation in a more centralized and integrated manner. This approach will bring greater benefits in pursuing our mission and bringing greater value to taxpayers.
This year, we continue to make progress while adjusting our working methods. The lessons learned during the pandemic are being evaluated, shared, and embedded in our new working methods.
The development of the past few years has led to a new group operating model, which provides an opportunity for the next stage of efficient delivery of the entire NDA real estate. In the future, we will share skills, learning and best practices to provide a more comprehensive approach to the challenges of nuclear decommissioning. Our publicly released mission delivery progress newsletter has been widely disseminated, and our revised strategy complies with the requirements of the 2004 Energy Act, and received extensive consultation and recognition a year before its release. Our commitment to openness and transparency allows us to engage with stakeholders regularly, encourage feedback and take action.
Safety and security are our top priorities, and it is encouraging that our leadership in cyber resilience has cooperated with the National Cyber Security Center at a time when global threats continue to increase, further enhancing our security and network infrastructure.
Our employees, supply chain, and stakeholders are role models in responding to the pandemic. Although our business reflects the mental health challenges facing the world, the resilience and friendship of the entire group and our community have always been a source of our pride. In addition, we can now maximize the benefits of the reimagined future and create truly modern ways of working. We have made progress in understanding our culture better and strengthening support for our diversity and inclusion agenda. Our journey is a long-term path. Like any journey, we have experienced highlights and challenges-we continue to learn from them.
We are very pleased to see this year that the Ministry of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has developed a plan to address the country’s need for the upcoming decommissioning of advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) units operated by EDF Energy. For many years, the transportation and storage of spent AGR fuel has been an integral part of our business. The end of the life cycle of this important low-carbon energy provides an opportunity for the government, as its professional nuclear decommissioning agency, can find the right way to deal with this challenge in the future.
After the legal judgment on the Magnox contract issue in 2016, the NDA underwent an unparalleled review, beginning with the contract bidding that began in 2011. Steven Holliday’s Magnox survey report released on March 4, 2021 provides further insight into how the NDA, including the board of directors and the government, can make changes to improve our governance.
In 2017, we have taken significant steps to resolve the interim survey results of the survey, and we will ensure that we respond to the additional learning in the final report of the survey. However, the NDA today is a very different organization from 2016, and it is stronger and more capable. Of course, we can do better. This is our focus.
The board of directors understands its legal and fiduciary responsibilities. Our agenda and board committees are constantly evolving to respond to internal drivers, stakeholder expectations and external conditions. We work within the scope of the relevant UK Corporate Governance Code and pay more attention to the environmental, social and governance agenda. In order to consider a wider range of issues in our decision-making, I am pleased to introduce the new Section 172 approach in this report, which emphasizes how issues such as sustainability and stakeholder perspectives are incorporated into our decision-making and travel direction. This socially responsible standard helps us to consider as environmental stewards, our relationship with people, and how we lead the organization.
The board’s desire to promote and strengthen good governance also includes lessons learned from external reviews, such as the Competition and Markets Authority and the Brydon and Kingman reviews related to governance and auditing.
As a rejuvenated organization, moving forward will include taking action based on the recommendations in the recently published BEIS Departmental Review NDA. Following the Magnox investigation report, this review and the lessons learned from its findings will enable NDA to get rid of its past shortcomings and move forward with confidence.
As our mission advances, it is important to consider the impact of our decisions and operations on the environment and the overall impact on climate change. We strive to support the government’s net zero carbon goal and focus on formulating a more sustainable operation route. Our goal is to ensure that our environmental contribution and impact on local communities help them become prosperous living and working places as we complete decommissioning tasks.
Within the NDA Group, I have seen a wealth of expertise, a highly skilled workforce, and a capable non-departmental public institution focused on its key mission to clean up Britain’s long-standing nuclear facilities. I want to thank our dedicated employees for their hard work, the challenges of our stakeholders, and the continued support of our community.
2020 is an unprecedented and most difficult year in modern history. I am encouraged by the way our employees, supply chain, and stakeholders come together to support each other and our broader community.
They joined national and local efforts, from helping the NHS to delivering important supplies to supermarkets, and even manufacturing and donating personal protective equipment for frontline health workers.
Despite the enormous challenges posed by the global crisis, we achieved notable milestones last year in clean-up and decommissioning, as well as plans to establish and strengthen the NDA team.
The pandemic has also become a catalyst for finding new jobs and ways to connect with each other. As a result, we can accelerate the transition to more agile work and digital improvement programs in the NDA and the entire NDA group.
Keeping employees safe during the pandemic has had an impact on some of our operations and goals. Nonetheless, we were able to advance important cleanup and decommissioning work.
In Dounreay, work on its newest radioactive waste storage is progressing well and the walls are nearing completion. This shop is an important part of our waste storage strategy and will store waste safely for long periods of time in accordance with Scottish policy.
Our new transport sector Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS) has launched a plan to transport high-level radioactive waste back to Germany in 2020/21.
This plan is a key part of our strategy to repatriate high-level radioactive waste from the UK, fulfill overseas contracts, and implement the UK government’s policy in this area.
At Sellafield, we saw significant progress in key decommissioning work, removing half of the waste from the reactor fuel storage pool. The site is working to remove large amounts of radioactive material from the facility by 2024, which is one of the UK’s biggest nuclear hazards. At the same time, the skyline of the site continues to change, and work is underway to carefully dismantle the chimneys and chimneys of some of the oldest and most challenging parts of the site.
The removal of the second iconic Windscale Pile chimney is a very obvious demonstration of the work done to make Sellafield a safer place and is an important step in the site cleanup task.
The government’s commitment to our country’s important work is reflected in the government’s one-year spending cycle and has ensured a record level of funding. We are keenly aware of how important it is to maximize the value of taxpayers’ investments in this economic environment, and we will continue to make it a priority.
Importantly, we have released the fourth iteration of the NDA strategy. This explains our approach to the UK’s nuclear heritage and the direction of travel to achieve our mission, and the opinions of stakeholders gathered through in-depth participation.
These successes were achieved during extremely difficult times, and I am extremely proud of our employees and their commitment in a challenging environment.
In last year’s report, I wrote about the important steps being taken to strengthen and simplify the organization of our group, including the shift to a subsidiary model.
All our operating companies have now become NDA subsidiaries. In March of this year, Dounreay became a wholly-owned subsidiary, and earlier this month, the Low-Level Waste Repository (LLWR) followed closely behind.
Earlier this year, we saw our two transportation companies, Direct Rail Services (DRS) and International Nuclear Services (INS), join forces to create NTS, the leading nuclear transportation and logistics organization. We also announced our intention to create a single waste department and bring together our group-wide waste management expertise from LLWR and radioactive waste management businesses.
We have already begun to benefit from operating as a team, using the opportunities provided by our scale and breadth to promote effective and efficient task delivery. We will continue to strengthen, embed and utilize the work that has been done to build a strong NDA group to provide UK taxpayers with decommissioning success and value.
I am very pleased that the government recently announced its decision to transfer EDF Energy’s advanced gas-cooled reactor station to NDA for decommissioning after unloading. This is a testament to the skills and experience of the NDA team and the progress our mission is making.
In order to maximize the benefits of cooperation with a “single confidentiality agreement”, we have taken important measures to modify the leadership structure of the confidentiality agreement team.
Crucial to this is the creation of a new NDA Group Leadership Team (GLT) to drive the entire NDA Group to improve leadership, assurance, collaboration, and transfer of learning and skills. GLT has representatives from NDA and our operating company. Through a cross-group perspective, this team will benefit our mission, people, on-site communities, and taxpayers.
Due to the pandemic, the way we are asked to work has changed, which gives us the opportunity to build on flexible and agile work arrangements. We are committed to creating an ideal workplace for everyone, and our commitment to diversity and inclusion at all levels is also an integral part of it.
In recent years, we have taken major steps to improve our workplace culture and have begun to see this extremely important agenda accelerating throughout our group. However, we are not complacent and will not turn a blind eye to feedback. We know that there is more work to be done and we will continue to work tirelessly in this area.
Post time: Nov-18-2021
