As a part of our Sellafield, Decommissioning, Fuel and Waste division our DFW sub-division is responsible for regulating safety on 19 licensed nuclear sites and for regulating transport of radioactive material between these and other nuclear sites.
DFW also leads for ONR on a number of broader topics, not specifically related to the licensed sites, these include:
- Providing advice to government and others on decommissioning policy and strategy;
- Land quality management;
- Proportionate regulatory control; and
- The regulatory framework for geological disposal of radioactive waste.
Decommissioning sites
There are 13 former power reactor and research reactor sites in various stages of decommissioning:
- Berkeley, Bradwell, Chapelcross, Dounreay (including the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment), Dungeness A, Harwell, Hinkley Point A, Hunterston A, Oldbury, Sizewell A, Trawsfynydd, Winfrith and Wylfa all licensed to Nuclear Restoration Services (formerly 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).
As the current Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor fleet comes to the end of power generation, EDF Energy are preparing for transfer and transition into decommissioning with the first site (Hunterston B) expected to enter decommissioning in 2027.
Fuel manufacturing sites
There are two sites that enrich uranium and produce new fuel for nuclear power plants:
- Capenhurst Works, licensed to Urenco UK Ltd; and
- Springfields Works, licensed to Springfields Fuels Ltd.
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:
- Tradebe Inutec Ltd at Winfrith;
- Metals Recycling Facility operated by Cyclife UK Ltd in Lilyhall Cumbria; and
- Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) at Drigg in Cumbria operated by Nuclear Waste Services, part of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Group.
The governmental body responsible for securing the clean-up of civil nuclear liabilities in the UK is the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) which owns 17 sites. Our 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 we are a member.
NDSPG is chaired by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (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 they meet national and international nuclear safety standards.
