In the United Kingdom, EDF is required, under nuclear site licence Condition 34, to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that radioactive material and radioactive waste on its sites is adequately controlled or contained so that it cannot leak or escape.
In England the Environment Agency (EA) regulates the disposal of radioactive waste from licensed nuclear sites under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) regulations 2016. These regulations also regulate what was previously governed by Pollution Prevention and Control, Water Resources Act discharge consents, Flood Risk activity consents and Waste Management licensing.
The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) published its recommendations for the long-term management of higher activity waste in 2006. In response, the UK government decided to prefer the use of deep geological disposal facilities for the storage of higher activity waste in England. It set the framework for the management of long-term storage through geological storage, combined with a safe and secure interim storage.
In Scotland, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) regulates the disposal of radioactive waste from licensed nuclear sites. The Scottish Government is pursuing a near surface near site long storage or disposal policy for HAW arising from Scottish sites.
In the United Kingdom, EDF is subject to nuclear site licence Condition 35 which forms the basis for the detailed decommissioning plans and programmes required by the ONR, but its requirements must be taken into account with other legal provisions such as the Nuclear Reactors (Environmental Impact Assessment for Decommissioning) regulations 1999 which require an assessment of the environmental impact of decommissioning and mitigation measures to reduce the environmental impact.
Decommissioning is usually carried out in stages, with ONR formal approval required to move on to the next stage. The ONR may order operators to start or cease decommissioning at any time and must approve decommissioning plans for each stage of the decommissioning process.
Prospective operators of nuclear power plants are required to submit in their FDP (Funding Decommissioning Programme), a Decommissioning and Waste Management Plan (DWMP), setting out the operator’s costed plans for meeting its decommissioning and waste management and disposal obligations, and a Funding Arrangements Plan (FAP), explaining how the operator will make financial provision for its obligations. Chapter 1 of Part 3 of the Energy Act 2008 (EA 2008) sets out the rules governing the decommissioning and clean-up of nuclear sites, along with detailed provisions on FDPs. Also see note 15.2.3 “Provisions for nuclear plant decommissioning” of consolidated accounts.
EDF Energy is party to a suite of agreements (the Restructuring Agreements) that set out how qualifying decommissioning and uncontracted liabilities costs will be funded by the Nuclear Liability Fund (NLF) as well as including a guarantee by the UK Government for the costs of decommissioning the existing nuclear plants. The NLF was funded initially through a UK Government contribution and since privatization by EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Ltd. making quarterly payments to the NLF under the terms of a contribution agreement. In 2020, the UK Government made an additional contribution to the NLF of £5 billion.
EDF Energy and the UK Government signed an update to the Restructuring Agreements on 23 June 2021. The changes and clarifications to the Agreements confirm the recovery of qualifying costs and stipulate that once the AGR stations have finished defueling under EDF Energy responsibility, they will all be transferred to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) which will be responsible for subsequent decommissioning activities. Also see note 15.2.1 “Regulatory and contractual framework” of consolidated accounts.
| Output (in TWh) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Plant | Location | Year commissioned |
Number of units |
Type of station |
Capacity (in MW) | 2021 | 2020 |
| West Burton A | Nottinghamshire | 1969 | 2 | Coal-fired and OCGT (1) | 1,000 | 0.5 | 1.2 |
| West Burton B | Nottinghamshire | 2013 | 3 | Combined Cycle Gas Turbine |
1,332 | 2.6 | 4.9 |
| TOTAL (2) | UNITED KINGDOM | 5 | 2,332 | 3.1 | 6.0 | ||
(1) Open Cycle Gas Turbine
(2) Differences in total number due to the rounding.
The Cottam Power Plant closed on 30 September 2019 after more than 50 years of being in service. The decision to close the station was made following market changes together with a drive to actively remove carbon from the power generation process. Currently plans are progressing well with the decommissioning work and the likely timescale for completion of demolition is Q4 2025.
The West Burton A Power Station entered into partial decommissioning on 1 October 2021, reducing the available units from 4 to 2 (reducing Capacity from 1,987MW to 1,000MW). West Burton A has announced that it will close on 31 September 2022 and go into full decommissioning (after satisfying its 2021/ 2022 capacity market agreement). The decision to close the station is in line with EDF’s commitment to Net Zero. In 2021, West Burton A generated 0.5TWh of electricity, 0.7TWh less generation than last year mainly due to the strategic decision to reduce current coal stock and be the station of last resort in preparation for its closure.
The West Burton B CCGT power plant was sold on 31 August 2021, it generated 2.6TWh from 1 January 2021 to 31 August 2021, a decrease of 2.30TWh from 2020.
EDF Energy also operates a mid-cycle gas storage facilities in Cheshire. Hill Top Farm became commercially operational in mid-January 2015 with three cavities. A fourth cavity became commercially operational in 2018 with the remaining cavity brought into service in December 2019. During 2020, the decision was made to decommission the Hole House Facility due to challenging market conditions coupled with requirements for some significant investment to the plant. Decommissioning work is progressing well, it is expected to be complete by Q4 2024.
