A NEW setup at the helm of Sellafield will "build on the past and shape a successful future", according to nuclear chiefs.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will officially take the over the running of the site tomorrow (Friday), with Sellafield Ltd - the firm responsible for the clean-up - becoming subsidiary of the NDA.

The change was initiated in January last year when the government stripped private sector consortium, Nuclear Management Partners (NMP), of its contract to run the site, ending its controversial six-year tenure.

The change of setup to a "simpler arrangement", which has taken place gradually since the NMP announcement, will create greater efficiency on site, say those at the helm.

John Clarke, chief executive of the NDA, said: "This is a new chapter for Sellafield. Without a commercially driven contract, the NDA and Sellafield Ltd will be working to exactly the same goal – safely delivering the mission as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“Progress has been made under the old arrangements but, in the long-term, they are not suited to a site like Sellafield. The work that needs to be done at Sellafield is very complex, often difficult to define and spans many years.

"The new arrangements will accommodate the challenges at the site more easily and better allow for longer term planning. The private sector will still be heavily involved in delivering work at Sellafield but no longer as an owner.

“I would like to thank NMP for its support during this period of transition. With its cooperation, we have been able to develop the new arrangements and secure an excellent Sellafield Ltd Executive Team well in advance of today’s official change in ownership.”

Paul Foster, chief executive of Sellafield Ltd, said: “Model change is just the start of change at Sellafield. The business will fundamentally change when reprocessing at the site ends in 2020, which gives us a defined window of opportunity to evolve so we are best equipped to deliver our mission successfully.

"Underpinning the changes we’re making is a drive for greater efficiency. The Sellafield Ltd workforce, supported by the supply chain, has delivered some fantastic achievements over the last eight years. Working closely with the NDA, we will use these new simpler arrangements to build on the past and shape a successful future for the site, its workforce, supply chain and communities.”

Iain Irving, the general manager of NMP, added: “We can all be proud of the achievements at Sellafield over the last eight years” he said.

“It would be wrong to say that absolutely everything has gone the way we wanted it to but there have been substantial achievements on the site. This was recognised by former Secretary of State Edward Davey, who at the time of the announcement to change Sellafield’s ownership arrangements, thanked NMP for its support in ‘stewarding Sellafield through a crucial stage of delivery and planning’. Much thanks and praise for this of course goes to the Sellafield Ltd workforce - one of the best in the world.”