Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

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Background

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body that has been created to oversee Britain's "nuclear legacy". It was established in April 2005 under the Energy Act 2004 to take strategic responsibility for the UK's nuclear legacy. Its core objective "is to ensure that the 20 civil public sector nuclear sites under its ownership are decommissioned and cleaned up safely, securely, cost effectively and in ways that protect the environment." [1]

The Board

PR team

To spin their case, the NDA has brought in high profile PR experts who are used to fighting controversial schemes. The NDA has hired Jon Phillips, the ex--nuclear spin. He is heading a ten person team based in London.

The NDA also has a PR team based in Cumbria headed by Bill Hamilton ex- director at Grayling and public affairs director at Safeway, and recently group public affairs director for Transport for London.[2]

The Revolving Door

The NDA's senior executives include senior figures from within the nuclear industry including BNFL or those who were closely involved from a regulatory perspective:

  • Richard Mrowicki - Head of Stakeholder Relations - ex-Deputy Director, Liabilities Management Unit, DTI and ex-BNFL where he was involved in stakeholder relations. [3] [4]
  • Richard Waite - The Engineering Director - Ex-BAe Systems. Before he joined the defence industry in 1998, Waite spent 18 years working in the civil nuclear in dustry, including Director of Projects for Nuclear Electric, the organisation that procured, constructed and ran the UK's nuclear power plants. [5]
  • David Hayes- Strategy and Commercial Director. Ex-DTI. Hayes was "at the forefront of work to establish the NDA". Been heavily involved in nuclear issues, including reviewing BNFL's corporate strategy and revised MOX plans as well as the privatisation of British Energy.
  • Richard Griffin - was Nuclear Coal and Liabilities Unit at the DTI who helpled set up the NDA. [6]

Bell Pottinger

The NDA has hired Bell Pottinger Communications to run its PR led by Chime Communications division chairman Kevin Murray. Also involved are Bell Pottinger Public Affairs director Tim Walker and Corporate & Financial director Mark Herbert. The account is said to be worth £100,000.[7]

In November / December 2005, Private Eye revealed that Bell Pottinger was receiving £8,000 a month to give strategic advice to the NDA. The Eye noted: " Why is the Bell Pottinger PR firm passing on potted biographies of MPs focusing on their supposed attitude to nuclear power to the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency (NDA)? The NDA's job, after all, is to clean up the mess left by the old atomic generation, not to promote new nuclear power stations."

The Eye continued: "The files certainly give the impression that Bell Pottinger thinks the NDA is part of the cosy nuclear club rather than a body charged with sorting out some of the worst problems created by the industry. In its bidding document Bell Pottinger emphasised that its chairman Kevin Murray 'worked on the BNFL account during a tumultuous four-year period'. It also said Bell Pottinger director Tim Walker was a 'former special adviser to Jack Cunningham' when he was a very pro-nuclear MP and spent 'more than a decade closely involved in the politics of the nuclear industry'. [8]

Experts in spin for the nuclear industry

Using the Freedom of Information Act, NuclearSpin has obtained a copy of Bell Pottinger's pitch to the NDA. It underlines the extent of the company's involvement with the nuclear industry. It states that Bell Pottinger's consultants "have worked in a variety of capacities with the nuclear industry. These include:

  • Providing strategic advice and support for the Chairman and Chief Executive of BNFL including crisis management
  • Advising BNFL on corporate and financial communications
  • Developing day-to-day public affairs programmes for BNFL and the BNIF
  • Working with Parliamentarians with interests in the nuclear industry
  • Monitoring and tracking nuclear issues ranging from Parliamentary committees to public enquiries
  • Directly managing the in-house communications for the UKAEA and AEA Technology through privatisation
  • Briefing and rehearsing industry executives appearing before Select Committees." [9] [10]

The NDA's briefing paper for potential PR consultants boasts that the "NDA is not unique in being an organisation committed to open and transparent engagement with stakeholders, but it may well be the first organisationthat has such objectives built in to its statutory requirements". Nevertheless, Bell Pottinger's successful pitch includes:

  • "Advising on the handling of particular announcements identifying the issues and bear traps in advance, advising on messaging, media strategy and tactics, questions and answers"
  • "Advising on an appropriate contact programme ie who are the journalists that should be courted, what are their issues, how best to handle them"
  • "Providing off the record information". [11] [12]

'Off the record, we're open and trustworthy'

Minutes of meetings between Bell Pottinger and the NDA reveal what the PR company has been doing since it won the contract. It told the NDA that its approach with the media "should be to establish credibility and claim high ground, eg around legacy handed to future generations, job preservation". Bell Pottinger agreed to provide "analysis of key players and their positions in relation to the industry" (though this was later shelved) and run a briefing programme aimed at national newspaper editors to "explain the NDA and build a sense independence, trust, credibility and openness". Even though these briefings were led by the NDA head Anthony Cleaver and supported by Jon Phillips, Bell Potinger recommended that they "should be off the record". [13] [14] [15]

Bell Pottinger is also being paid to approve the NDA's submission to a House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee hearing (see below), and coach NDA executives on what they should tell the committee's MPs. Minutes of a meeting between Bell Pottinger and the NDA, dated 13 January 2006, notes: "Evidence was being drafted for the House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee, JP (Jon Phillips of the NDA) to pass to TW (Tim Walker of Bell Pottinger) for comments. It was agreed to arrange a rehearsal to be arranged when Committee dates have been set." [16]

Another document suggests that the NDA is interested in how public perception of the safety of nuclear power could be changed. Bell Pottinger produced "an assessment of the perception of the Caithness region created by media and online sources" for the NDA. The introduction notes: 'Work is underway to stimulate the growth of new business in the Caithness area of the North Highlands, partly to compensate for the future loss of jobs as a result of the decommissioning of the Dounreay nuclear site' and adds that 'the external perception of what it is like to live and work in Caithness will be of critical importance'. [17]

The study finds that in the national press, 'sources created the following perceptions:

A variety of concerns over the risks associated with nuclear activity indicate that this is an undesirable place to work and live On a site with a history of proven and suspected safety problems, the receipt of high-risk material from Georgia and suggestions of Dounreay as a major terrorist target do not bode well for the area. The contamination of workers (2000) and discovery of radioactive particles on the beach near the plant suggest that the region is at a considerable risk from nuclear activity. There have been investigations into the links between nuclear plants and cancer clusters (1996) and the suggested link with child cancers (2005). A major local landowner has been sufficiently concerned by the emission of radioactive material that he has sued the Dounreay plant. Tourists may be at risk from radioactive particles and golf courses have been forced to close due to the risk. Dounreay was formerly a popular beach, though ruined aesthetically by the erection of the plant. The waters may contain 'nuclear nasties' causing meningitis, ear and kidney infections. The plant is an eye-sore on the coastline and although an integral part of the present economy, it is a deterrent to individuals hearing a range of stories over recent decades up to the present on the potential horror which could stem from mismanagement of nuclear material.'

Nevertheless, the document concludes that 'there is enormous potential to make further use of the Internet as a tool to enhance perceptions of the area, promote new business and counter the effect of the inevitable negative stories in the press.'

Under Investigation

In December 2005, the Commons Trade and Industry Committee announced an inquiry into the work of the NDA and UKAEA as both Non-Departmental Public Bodies are sponsored by the DTI. The Committee will investigate:

  • The remit and activities of the NDA and UKAEA;
  • The compatibility of current plans for the NDA and UKAEA with any increased reliance on nuclear power generation;
  • The NDA and UKAEA's performance and accountability.

[18]

References

  • 1. Ravi Chandiramani (2005) Lib Dem Election Chief Nets Tfl Job, PR Week, 12 August, p1.
  • 2. Ravi Chandiramani (2005) Nuclear Clean-Up Body Brings In Bell Pottinger, PR Week, 8 July, p2.

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