Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) describes itself as "a non-departmental public body, set up in April 2005 under the Energy Act 2004 to take strategic responsibility for the UK's nuclear legacy. Our core objective is to ensure that the 20 civil public sector nuclear sites under our ownership are decommissioned and cleaned up safely, securely, cost effectively and in ways that protect the environment for this and future generations." [1]
Contents
Mission creep? Bell Pottinger profiles MPs for the NDA
Soon after its formation, the NDA retained the services of Bell Pottinger Public Affairs. According to Bell Pottinger, its remit was
- "...to provide support for the development and implementation of [the NDA's] communications and public affairs strategy... The agency will provide strategic advice, media relations advice and implementation, as well as political monitoring." [2]
According to Private Eye magazine, the value of the contract was £8,000 a month. The magazine used the Freedom of Information Act (UK) to discover that Bell Pottinger was supplying the NDA with "...biographies of members of the Commons trade and industry select committee who oversee the NDA. The files focus heavily, and not always accurately, on whether the MP's are 'pro-' or 'anti' nuclear." [3].
For example, in his profile, Wolverhampton South West MP Rob Marris was
- "...described as 'a long-standing supporter of Greenpeace' and not a 'proponent of nuclear energy'. Marris told the Eye he was not in principal anti-nuclear. He added the NDA should consider why it is “spending money on Bell Pottinger to record the attitude of select committee [members] to nuclear power, as this is beyond their remit; In any case it might have been simpler and cheaper for the NDA to ask MP's what they think, as we would be happy to tell them.' The Eye asked the NDA why Bell Pottinger was producing these files. Its spokesman said: 'We take no position on nuclear energy generation. We did not ask Bell Pottinger to find out MP's' views on that question, this is just something they have supplied. These may have been standard biogs on their files anyway.' [4]
Bell Pottinger's concern about the pro-nuclear credentials of the select committee members certainly seems to have little relevance to the NDA's mission statement: "To deliver a world class programme of safe, cost-effective, accelerated and environmentally responsible decommissioning of the UK's civil nuclear legacy in an open and transparent manner and with due regard to the socio-economic impacts on our communities." [5]
Pay it again, Sam
According to Steve Thomas of the Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU),
- "Consumers and taxpayers have arguably already paid twice over for decommissioning the Magnox plants and under the provisions of the Energy Act 2004 that allowed the setting up of the NDA, future taxpayers will have to pay a third time.
- "...Electricity consumers have already paid for the decommissioning of the Magnox plants. In the 1989 pre-privatisation accounts of the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) and the South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB), £3.8bn of assets was set against the decommissioning liability. Taking account of inflation and allowing, say, 3% annual real rate of return, this sum should have about doubled by now. This notional amount was simply absorbed by government when the industry was privatised and was used to subsidise government spending.
- "There was also the Fossil Fuel Levy, which was a sum paid by electricity consumers (10% of their electricity bills) from 1990-98, to which electricity consumers contributed about £8bn. Michael Heseltine told Parliament this was ‘to decommission old unsafe stations’. In fact, it was used for almost anything but that, and paid for a new nuclear power plant (Sizewell B) and was unrestricted cash income for Nuclear Electric to pay for its losses. Despite its best efforts, Nuclear Electric, the nationally owned company that inherited all the CEGB’s nuclear assets, did not manage to spend it all and £2.7bn remained unspent when the nuclear industry was reorganised in 1996. A small amount went to British Energy’s (the privatised company that inherited the more modern nuclear plants) segregated decommissioning fund and the rest went to BNFL, who inherited the Magnox plants. There, it was placed in the Nuclear Liabilities Investment Portfolio (NLIP), a fund that was separately identified in BNFL’s accounts, but not strictly segregated. So if BNFL had faced bills it could not otherwise have paid, it would have to have drawn this fund down. The NLIP, with inflation and some capital growth now stands at about £4bn." [6]
Staff
Chairman and Non-Executive Directors
- Sir Anthony Cleaver
- Nick Baldwin
- Tony Cooper
- David Illingworth
- Roger Scott
- Lyndon Stanton
- Primrose Stark
- (source)
Executive team
- Chief Executive - Dr Ian Roxburgh
- Communications Director - Jon Phillips
- Engineering Director - Richard Waite
- Finance and Resources Director - William Roberts
- Legal Director - Fiona Hammond
- Nuclear Safety and Security Director - Laurence Williams
- Programme Director - Jim Morse
- Strategy and Commercial Director - David Hayes
- (source)
Contact details
Pelham House,
Calderbridge, Cumbria CA20 1DB.
Tel: 01925 80 2077
Fax: 01925 80 2003
Email: foi@nda.gov.uk
Website: http://www.nda.gov.uk/
(source)
SourceWatch resources
External links
- Steve Thomas, "The UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority" (report, MS Word), Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), December 2004.
- "Nuclear Decommissioning Authority appoints Bell Pottinger", press release, Bell Pottinger Public Affairs, 2005.
- "Nuclear family", Private Eye via SpinWatch, No. 1146, November 25, 2005. About the Bell Pottinger NDA contract.
