• A multi-billion pound industry
• A new approach to meet the clean up challenge
• Setting priorities and timescale
• Skills
• Getting it right

A multi-billion pound industry
Dealing with the nuclear legacy will require massive investment on the part of government. Billions of pounds will be needed for the next hundred years. Work is already under way, with some 20 significant legacy facilities already removed or reduced to minimum care and maintenance. However, the scale of what remains to be done is immense. Clean up will therefore be a major source of employment over the next century.


A new approach to meet the clean up challenge
Ensuring that the necessary skills, resources and facilities are in place is a major undertaking. Getting the right jobs done at the right time also requires a high degree of co-ordination and planning.

The Government's new approach will see the development of a unified and coherent strategy for clean up. This will be done in partnership with regulators and site licensees, making the best use of available skills and resources. The new approach will highlight the importance of safety and environmental performance, whilst delivering best value for money. In addition, the whole process will be much more open and transparent. The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK is best equipped to meet the clean up challenge.


Setting priorities and timescales
The Government's new arrangements will require individual sites to develop life-cycle baselines which will map out clean up priorities over the short, medium and long terms. It will be the NDA's responsibility to consolidate the individual site baselines into one national lifecycle baseline for the UK. This will outline the work that will need to be undertaken in order its strategy for decommissioning and clean up. In this way, account can be taken of existing synergies and interdependencies between different operations and sites. At the same time, the NDA will ensure that best practice is shared between sites and that a consistent approach to clean-up is adopted across the UK.

The Liabilities Management Unit (LMU) within the Department has completed the first series of reviews of the individual site baselines. The focus will now lie on refining and improving the baselines, with site licensees and the regulators, in readiness for the NDA. To this end, the LMU has been holding regular workshops with both site licensees and the regulators in order to evaluate lessons learnt from developing the baselines.


Skills
The scale of UK clean up means that top quality management skills and world-class technological expertise are going to be much in demand. The new arrangements will ensure that the need for skills and resources is highlighted early. At the same time, the new arrangements will need to ensure that the skills and resources required for clean up will become available and can be sustained over the medium and long term.

The NDA will have a key duty to promote and maintain the skilled work force necessary in order to sustain its clean up programme. The Government is currently working with a range of authorities in developing practical solutions to the challenge of building and maintaing this skills base. A national Nuclear Skills Project has recently been inaugurated by the North West Development Agency. Based at the Westlakes Research Institute, the group has a nationwide remit to develop the skills set needed as the industry moves further into decommissioning mode. Good progress has also been made towards expanding the Sector Skills Council for the oil, gas and chemical indsutries, COGENT, to include the nuclear industry. We expect COGENT to be licensed to include the nuclear industry early next year.

Through working with these bodies and others, the Government expects to learn from the best examples of developing skills in preparing for the future.


Getting it right: cleaning up the nuclear legacy
We have to deal with the consequences of our nuclear past. Doing nothing is not an option. The generations that have benefited from past programmes must ensure that their legacy is discharged safely and in ways that safeguard the environment for future generations. The Government is committed to getting it right, for the benefit of all.


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