Costs of cleanup of Sellafield radioactive wastes getting out of control

Sellafield: MPs warn US-led consortium over escalating cost of clean-up Margaret Hodge says Nuclear Management Partners’ contract should be terminated if performance does not improve The Guardian, Rajeev Syal The Guardian, Tuesday 11 February 2014 The American-led consortium presiding over the clean-up of hazardous nuclear waste at Sellafield must be stripped of its contract if it does not improve a performance that has seen the bill rise to more than £70bn, according to a committee of MPs.

A report from the public accounts committee said progress at the nuclear complex in Cumbria had been poor, with missed targets, escalating costs, slipping deadlines and weak leadership.

The MPs made a series of recommendations focusing on the role of the private consortium, Nuclear Management Partners (NMP), which was brought in by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) six years ago to help improve the plant’s performance.

The report concluded that the consortium was to blame for many of the escalating costs and the MPs said they could not understand why the NDA extended the consortium’s contract last October.

Margaret Hodge, who chairs the committee, said costs were rising to “astonishing” levels, such as the doubling to £729m million on a storage silo project, while another task had been put back six years to 2023. Hodge said the authority should monitor progress and terminate NMP’s contract if performance does not improve quickly……..

Timescales have slipped and reprocessing targets have been missed. NMP has failed to provide the clear leadership, strong management and improved capabilities for the job.”

Hodge added: “There has been a high turnover of executives, and NMP has failed to train staff with the right skills and experience. Instead it used expensive NMP staff – at an average cost of £300,000 per expert in 2012-2013.”

One of the members of the NMP consortium is Areva, the French engineering firm that is also working on the new power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The group also includes URS of the US and Amec of the UK……..

Sources close to the authority claimed that the consortium’s contract was extended by the government because of a “lack of faith” in its ability to attract another consortium to take over the job at the same rates.,,,,,,,,,http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/11/sellafield-consortium-cost-clean-up