New arrangements between the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Sellafield Ltd will see the organisation become a subsidiary of the non-departmental public body from today, 01 April.

Sellafield Ltd, the organisation leading the clean up operation at the Sellafield nuclear site, will become an ancillary to the NDA under a new model which will help the company 'build on and accelerate' progress in hazard, risk reduction and decommissioning.

The move will replace the Parent Body Organisation model established in 2008, which involved Sellafield Ltd being owned by Nuclear Management Partners (NMP).

John Clarke, NDA CEO, said the news was a "new chapter" for Sellafield.

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"Without a commercially driven contract, the NDA and Sellafield Ltd will be working to exactly the same goal, safely delivering the mission as quickly and efficiently as possible," he said.

"Much progress has been made under the old arrangements but in the long term they are not suited to a site like Sellafield," he said.

"The work that needs to be done at Sellafield is very complex, often difficult to define and spans many years.

"The new arrangements will accommodate the challenges at the site more easily and allow for longer term planning. The private sector will still be heavily involved in delivering work at Sellafield but no longer as an owner."

Paul Foster, Sellafield Ltd CEO, added: "Model change is just the start of change at Sellafield. The business will fundamentally change when reprocessing at the site ends in 2020, which gives us a defined window of opportunity to evolve so we are best equipped to deliver our mission successfully.

"The Sellafield Ltd workforce, supported by the supply chain, has delivered some fantastic achievements over the last eight years; including most recently removing the last bulk stocks of historic nuclear fuel from one of the site's oldest storage ponds."

(LM)