New life in old age; UKAEA review as an environmental restoration organisation

UKAEA first arrived on the scene in 1954, having been created from the Atomic Energy Research Establishment. In the decades that followed, almost all developments in the UK nuclear industry had their origins in, or were spun out the UKAEA. By the late 1980's the original nuclear research and development mission had been completed. With the exception of fusion research, where UKAEA maintains a continuing and important role, the organisation's purpose is now the environmental clean up of the former research and development sites. This paper reviews how UKAEA successfully made the transformation and looks at the progress it has made in the restoration of L 8 B (b E 12 B) of waste management and decommissioning liabilities across its sites. As well as physical progress the paper looks briefly at the philosophy and strategy during the programmes and the suite of tools developed to ensure this is done efficiently and to an excellent standard. (author)