Page 343 - Beyond Decommissioning

Case studies of nuclear redevelopment 319

assemblies and structural components. The main components within the operational
area were two ‘Hot Cell’ or cave line suites together with their associated operational
areas. The Winfrith site strategy and plan did not identify any future operations that
would require the services of this facility. Decommissioning began in 2001 and was
completed in 2008. The land has now been remediated and fully restored.
The whole Winfrith center currently comprises three parts: the nuclear site, the
Dorset Green Technology Park (ex Winfrith Technology Center) and the Dorset
Police station.
In 1995, as a part of a diversification process, the eastern segment of the site
became Winfrith Technology Centre. This Centre was a home to science and
technology-based companies, as well as giving tangible proof of how a nuclear site
could be successfully restored. In 2005, the site began operating as a contractor to
the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. In 2009 Research Sites Restoration Limited
(RSRL) (since 2015 Magnox Ltd.), a subsidiary of the UKAEA Ltd., became the Site
License Company (SLC) responsible for the closure program at Winfrith and Harwell,
under contract to the NDA. In October 2009, the UKAEA Ltd. was sold to the
Babcock International Group. The contest to appoint a new parent body organization
(PBO) for the RSRL began in 2012. Cavendish Fluor Partnership, a part of the
Babcock International Group, was the preferred bidder and the shares were transferred
on September 1, 2014.
To this day, success has been achieved in both the decommissioning process and
the settling of tenants. While decommissioning work goes on and nuclear operations
withdraw across the site through the delicensing process, the nonnuclear businesses
move in. A significant delicensing step at Winfrith is described in World Nuclear
News (2012): the UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) approved the removal
from the license of over 10ha of the Winfrith site. Delicensing meant the land could
be redeveloped for the local green technology park. The range of activities at Winfrith
is typical of a scientific and technical center of excellence. Facilities have been
installed in cooperation with the local council for small and start-up businesses,
and universities share activities that have a focus on environmental research
(Magnoxsites, 2015).
One issue in the management of the Dorset Green Technology Park is the impact of
the Nuclear Licensed Site. A large part of the site is designated as a Nuclear Licensed
Site. The boundary between the nuclear licensed and non-licensed site is clearly mar-
ked but there are no restrictions on people and traffic movements. Therefore, control
of access to the Nuclear Licensed Site is applied to all employees. This further means
that all site employees must be trained in security, safety, and site emergency
response. These requirements place a significant burden on site tenants.
An additional burden associated with the Nuclear Licensed Site is that a license
condition requires that the nuclear licensee be granted regulatory consent before it
may issue a lease to a tenant. Before the regulator gives this consent, the licensee must
demonstrate that it exerts proper control over the tenant: this is normally to be con-
firmed by the lease. The licensee must also demonstrate that the activities of the tenant
do not cause any nuclear safety hazards onsite. Proving compliance with these require-
ments is generally not difficult, but it can introduce a delay to the issue of a lease.