Opportunities for Research in the UK for Decommissioning and Disposal
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Opportunities for Research in the UK for Decommissioning and Disposal Neil Smart NDA, Herdus House Westlakes Science & Technology Park Moor Row Cumbria CA24 3HU. ABSTRACT The NDA remit as set out within the Energy Act includes – “promote, and where necessary fund, research relevant to nuclear clean up”. The NDA need to underpin delivery and / or accelerate programmes to fulfil the overall mission and technical underpinning of these activities is critical. In this paper we will present consideration of the investment required in nuclear waste Research and Development. Firstly, NDA set the requirement for nuclear sites to write down within the Life Time Plans (LTP), at a high level, the proposed technical baseline underpinning the LTP activities; furthermore we required technology gaps / opportunities in the technical baselines to be outlined in a R&D requirements section to the LTP. Criteria were established to categorise the R&D in three areas: • “needs” - those development activities needed to underpin the proposed technical solutions • “risks” – those activities required to reduce / eliminate key risks to the proposed technical solutions • “opportunities” – innovations / changes to the technical baselines The purpose of production of the technical baselines and underpinning R&D requirements is to establish an auditable trail through the LTP from programme components into how the programme will be delivered. NDA believes the production of the technical baselines and R&D requirements will be of benefit to the Site License Companies (SLC) in terms of ensuring a focus on overall programme delivery and not just short term activities. Furthermore, we can ensure that investment in technology is targeted at priority areas, with common issues and requirements identified and solutions on a broader scale will be achievable. INTRODUCTION The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body, set up in April 2005 by the UK Government under the Energy Act 2004 to take strategic responsibility for the UK’s nuclear legacy. The NDA mission is clear: ‘To deliver a world class programme of safe, cost-effective, accelerated and environmentally responsible decommissioning of the UK’s civil nuclear legacy
in an open and transparent manner and with due regard to the socio-economic impacts on our communities’. In line with the mission, the NDA’s main objective is to decommission and cleanup the civil public sector nuclear legacy safely, securely, cost effectively and in ways that protect the environment for this and future generations. The NDA does not carry out clean-up work itself but has in place contracts with site licensee companies (SLCs), who are responsible for the dayto-day decommissioning and clean-up activity on each UK site. Individual sites develop LTPs that set out the short, medium and long-term priorities for the decommissioning and clean-up of each site. Critical to achieving the NDA main objective and overall mission is to accelerate and deliver clean-up programmes through the application of ap
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