The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is nearing a decision on potential alternatives for management of cleanup work at Sellafield, the NDA said yesterday. In the fall of 2013 the NDA decided to extend for five years five years URS-led Nuclear Management Partners’ contract to manage Sellafield cleanup, but noted that it could end the contract early if necessary. The British Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee subsequently questioned the extension and called for contract termination if performance does not improve. “In line with the recommendations from the PAC hearing in 2013, the NDA has been working with Government and industry experts over the last nine months to consider whether there are alternative options to the current arrangements at Sellafield that might deliver more effective progress,” NDA spokesman Bill Hamilton said in a statement yesterday. “This work is reaching a conclusion but no decisions have yet been taken. In the meantime, we continue to work with NMP to improve performance at Sellafield.”
Before deciding to extend NMP’s contract the NDA said it considered several alternatives. Those included major contract modifications, recompeting the contract or doing away altogether with the parent body organization model and increasing management and oversight on the part of the government. But it remains unclear what alternative options the NDA has considered in recent months.