The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s total planned expenses are projected to total £3.24 billion ($4 billion) for 2017-18, which is nearly identical to expenses in the prior year, according to the agency’s draft business plan, which was published this week.
The government will fund £2.36 billion of those expenses, while income from commercial operators will cover the rest. Planned expenditure on site programs is projected at £3.06 billion, while non-site expenditure is estimated at £0.18 billion, according to the business plan.
Every year the NDA publishes its business plan, which lays out the next three years of activity for cleaning up and decommissioning 17 of the U.K.’s earliest nuclear sites, including the nation’s first nuclear power stations, and multiple research and fuel facilities, including Sellafield, the U.K.’s largest nuclear site.
“We are seeing contaminated waste being retrieved from the highest hazard facilities for the first time ever at Sellafield whilst at some of our other sites defueling – the removal of all nuclear fuel – will soon be completed,” NDA Chief Executive John Clarke said in a statement.
The business plan is expected to be finalized and published by the end of March 2017.
The NDA also announced this week that the agency and its partners are offering £3 million ($3.8 million) in investment for nuclear decommissioning technology innovation projects.
NDA has partnered with Sellafield Ltd. and Innovate UK, and the group is seeking projects that integrate technologies into a single platform or a small number of platforms. They are looking for innovations that minimize human intervention, increase productivity, and optimize waste treatment, packing, and routing.
NDA included the following examples in its announcement: robotics and autonomous systems, sensors and detectors, imaging, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, digital and ICT, big data, and modeling and simulation.
The funding, which will be rolled out in two phases, falls under NDA’s small business research initiative. Phase 1 will fund production of detailed technology plans and business cases, and “the best ideas could attract funding in the second phase to develop a demonstration project.” After successful demonstration, the projects could be deployed and demonstrated at radioactive facilities at the Sellafield nuclear site.
