Office for Nuclear Regulation

Decommissioning, fuel and waste (DFW)

As a part of our Sellafield, Decommissioning, Fuel and Waste division the DFW sub-division is responsible for regulating safety on 19 licensed nuclear sites. Our DFW sub-division also leads on a number of broader topics, not specifically related to the licensed sites, these include:

Decommissioning sites

There are 13 former power reactor and research reactor sites in various stages of Decommissioning: Berkeley, Bradwell, Chapelcross, Dounreay, Dungeness A, Harwell, Hinkley Point A, Hunterston A, Oldbury, Sizewell A, Trawfynydd, Winfrith and Wylfa all licensed to Magnox Limited.

There is one site in the final stages of decommissioning and site clearance preparing to delicense, at Amersham, which is licensed to GE Healthcare Ltd (former radiopharmaceuticals site).

Fuel manufacturing sites

There are two sites that enrich uranium and produce new fuel for nuclear power plants:

Waste treatment and disposal sites

There are two commercial sites that recycle and treat low level radioactive waste and a low-level radioactive waste disposal site:

The governmental body responsible for securing the clean-up of civil nuclear liabilities in the UK is the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA5) which owns 17 sites. DFW inspectors have regular interactions with the NDA through national and other forums, where the site licence companies are sometimes represented.  One such group is the National Decommissioning Strategy and Policy Group (NDSPG), of which ONR is a member. NDSPG is chaired by DESNZ and the NDA acts as its secretariat - our role is to ensure that when decommissioning and radioactive waste management policies and strategies are developed, that they meet national and international nuclear safety standards.