The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Since our establishment in April 2005, we have increasingly recognised the need to become the ‘strategic mind’ responsible for the decommissioning and clean-up of the UK’s civil public sector nuclear sites.

Our current Strategy document was published in March 2006 and reflects the environment at that time. Under the Energy Act 2004, the Strategy must be reviewed at least every five years, so by end March 2011 at the latest. However, as a strategic body we are inevitably working on strategic issues all the time, so the periodic publication of our Strategy document can only be a snapshot of the current state of play.

Strategy Management System

We are designing a new system to manage the NDA's strategy, and it will have three key elements:

1. NDA Strategy Document (the ‘Strategic Plan’)

This is our overarching Strategy document that consolidates the key areas of strategy across various subjects. It will remain an important document, requiring Government approval, and we will continue to consult publicly each time we review it. However, under the new system, development of strategy will continue primarily through work on Topic Strategies, as outlined below.

2. Topic Strategies

These are individual subjects for which the NDA needs an agreed strategy. Topic Strategy documents will be developed and owned by subject matter specialists (‘Strategic Authorities') in the NDA.

Managing strategy in this way will mean that the NDA's strategy is formulated at a rate appropriate to each Topic and not driven by a statutory timescale. We hope it will also give stakeholders more opportunity to be engaged throughout the development of our strategy in each Topic area, rather than just periodic consultation on a draft Strategy document. Engagement plans for each of the Topics will be outlined so stakeholders can choose which Topics to get involved in.

3. Site Strategic Specification

Under the new system, each Site Licence Company (SLC) willbe issued with strategic specification. These will be derived from the Topic Strategies and will help improve the alignment between site Lifetime Plans (LTPs) and the main NDA strategy. The specification will be owned by NDA Site Programme Managers and produced in collaboration with SLCs and relevant Strategic Authorities.

Diagram to illustrate NDA's Proposed Strategy Management System

Next Steps

Ongoing development and publication of

• engagement plans;
• outputs from stakeholder engagement for each topic strategy; and
• strategic specification