Residents in Cumbria, England, will decide how money from the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing and decommissioning project will be funneled into community investment programs, the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) announced Friday.
Described as a “radical crowd sourcing scheme,” this new method of handling Sellafield’s community investment budget is one of several changes taking place at the site after NDA took ownership of the property this year. Local groups will have the opportunity to propose work that would benefit the community, and the public will vote on which bids advance.
“The crowd sourcing element – which relates to the money generated as a result of excellent site performance – is a way of bringing the community into the decision making process. It’s a model similar to the very successful kickstarter format,” Sellafield Ltd. socioeconomics head Helen Fisher said in a statement. “It means that Cumbrians are generating the money – by doing their jobs well at Sellafield – and then taking ownership of where that money is spent, helping to make us a self-sufficient community.”
This change is in line with NDA’s attempt to have the Sellafield decommissioning feed economic benefit into the local economy. Earlier this year NDA announced a £500 million socioeconomic benefits package that is expected to create 1,140 jobs per year until 2025. Included in the agreement is the requirement that companies bidding for work at Sellafield show how they will support the community if they win. These commitments will be written into their contracts. The groups that have signed onto the agreement include Integrated Decommissioning Solutions, the Nexus Decommissioning Alliance, Cumbria Nuclear Solutions Ltd., and the Decommissioning Alliance.
