All change
Lawrie Haynes is confident that British British Nuclear Group Nuclear Group can meet its customers' needs
This may be a wild claim, but I believe that I am leading the biggest and most complex business change management programme in Europe. British Nuclear Group was set up as part of BNFL following a government review of the UK's nuclear industry. The review, set out in a White Paper called Managing the Nuclear Legacy, shifted the goalposts as the government proposed new arrangements for cleaning up Britain's nuclear past.
Since then, the Energy Act 2004 has determined the framework for the establishment of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). It will be responsible for the UK's civil nuclear legacy and, from April 2005, it will own the majority of the assets and liabilities previously owned and operated by BNFL.
I laving inherited much of BNFL's decommissioning and clean-up business interests in the UK including Sellafield and the Magnox power station sites — British Nuclear Group needed to change direction. And fast.
At the time of my appointment as CEO the challenge of moving from owner/operator to operations/manag-ement contractor to the NDA — and serving a range of other customers — seemed daunting. To reflect its new focus, the business was given a unique identity. But we needed the necessary commercial expertise, and to get to where we need to be by April 2005 we brought in some smart commercial brains to
help manage the massive change programme. I laving assembled a new top team, we faced the monumental challenge of propelling the business into a ruthlessly cut-throat market to begin competing for work which had been ours automatically as owner-operator.
Our focus now is on operating safely and being innovative, applying our unrivalled expertise and knowledge to do things better, faster and more efficiently than anyone else. Sakty, security and care for the environment are our absolute priorities.
In delivering value safely to our shareholder — the Department of Trade and Industry -we remain as committed to providing a first-rate, responsive service to all our customers, both in the UK and overseas, as we are to ensuring the success of the NDA. After all, it is the NDA that holds the purse strings. It will become our biggest single customer. It is in our gift to make sure that we prove ourselves as the key supplier in a 148 billion nuclear legacy clean-up programme.
'l'he 2004 Energy Act contains provisions to fund cost-effective and efficient clean-up activities. It will consist of a sum equivalent to BNII:s Nuclear Liabilities Investment Portfolio, together with funds related to the Magnox business and topped up to meet necessary costs. Early indications show that the NDA's annual operating costs will be in the region of125 to /30 million. This is set against an estimated initial 1,2 billion annual spend on cleanup. Potential savings are achievable through incen tivised contracts and a competitive supply chain: on an annual expenditure of L2 billion, a 5 per cent overall saving of 1100 million is possible and that would mean that the NDA more than pays for itself. Nuclear legacy clean-up will last many decades, so it is vital to ensure that the right jobs get done at the right time to get the best value for the UK taxpayer.
While the NDA will have the necessary skills and resources in place to oversee the strategic management and direction of the clean-up programme, we also recognise the importance of employee development and skill enhancement. 'fhe competitive dynamic of the business will encourage new entrants and a strong graduate recruitment programme is already attracting the necessary skills from both the science and the engineering fields and the all-important commercial and financial fields.
The mammoth task of becoming an operations and management contractor is made easier by our experience of almost 60 years in the nuclear industry. That experience has helped us establish strong working relationships with both regulators and local communities. We are confident we have the most knowledgable, dedicated people in the industry, who are energised with a new motivation to demonstrate excellence to meet all our customers' needs and to accelerate our customers' clean-up activities.
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