The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

24 October 2006

BNFL and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) have agreed a position for the future of British Nuclear Group which reflects the needs and responsibilities of both organisations and provides the best all-round option to deliver a good home for the majority of the company's employees, early and strong competition in the UK nuclear clean-up market and significant shareholder value. This was approved by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alistair Darling, today.

Mike Parker, BNFL's CEO said:

"This was always going to be a highly complex challenge. British Nuclear Group is comprised of different businesses, all of which need their futures securing in very different ways. Working closely with the NDA we have now developed a way forward for Sellafield and Reactor Sites that presents the best all round solution for those parts of the business and our people who do such a fantastic job in safely operating and decommissioning these facilities.

We will now continue with the necessary consultations and develop detailed implementation plans with the aim of delivering this substantial change programme as safely and as quickly as possible.

NDA's Chief Executive, Dr Ian Roxburgh added:

"The NDA aims to build a strong and competitive market for decommissioning that will deliver excellent performance across all our sites, and our timescales to achieve this are set out in our approved Strategy. In working with BNFL we have sought to support their business objectives in a way that is consistent with our competition schedule. The proposed way forward means that the competition for Sellafield can now move forward without the added complexity of a sale, whilst the timetable for Magnox competitions is unaffected.

All of the NDA's competitions will be undertaken through a fair and transparent process, and in so doing we hope to attract the best contractors from the UK and overseas."

The agreed way forward for the Reactor Sites and Sellafield business is:

Reactor Sites
The Reactor Sites business will be sold as a whole, but separately from other parts of British Nuclear Group. This business and its people will have a strong future as part of a bigger organisation which can inject complementary skills and capability to further increase value for the NDA.

Sellafield
The BNFL and NDA Boards have agreed that their priority at Sellafield should be, as established in the Energy Act 2004, to support the creation of a competitive nuclear clean-up market in the UK and in particular to prepare the site for competition as safely and quickly as possible. This will enable the NDA to run a full competition for the Sellafield contract in the earliest possible timescale.

The proposed way forward for British Nuclear Group was separately agreed at BNFL and NDA Board meetings and comes on the back of a previous decision made by the BNFL Board in August to sell separately British Nuclear Group's Project Services Business and the shareholding in AWE.

From 8am on Wednesday 25th October the Written Ministerial Statement will be available: Click on See Also link