The UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) on 10 April published its Business Plan for 1 April 2017 to 30 March 2020, following a public consultation that ran between 12 December to 3 February. The plan is based on the third edition of NDA's Strategy, published in April 2016, and sets out its objectives and expected progress for all 17 of its nuclear sites over the next three years. This is in line with funding agreed with the Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The Plan also includes is a 20-year overview of forthcoming activities.
"Our core objective is to decommission these sites safely, securely, cost-effectively and in a manner that protects the environment," NDA said. The total planned expenditure for the financial year beginning April 2017 to financial year ending March 2018, is £3.24bn ($4.02bn), of which £2.36bn will be funded by government and £880m by income from commercial operations.
Newly appointed NDA CEO David Peattie said the Plan "includes some major milestones on the near-term horizon". He noted that, after many decades, all nuclear fuel reprocessing at Sellafield will end by 2020. The milestones included in the 2017-2020 Business Plan include: a Low Level Waste Repository contract decision by 2018; the end, in 2018, of the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) reprocessing schedule; all Magnox reactors defuelled and fuel transferred by 2019; the Magnox site in Bradwell, Essex, will become, by 2019, the first NDA site to move into Care and Maintenance phase; earlier start for retrievals from the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo by 2020; and, Magnox reprocessing due to finish by end of 2020.
