About 1,200 Magnox workers, decommissioning the UK’s nuclear plants, are being ensnared in a Catch-22 pension ‘trap’, which could see them losing thousands of pounds in retirement income. Unite, the country’s largest union, is calling on MPs to delete the controversial clause in the Enterprise bill, due to have its second reading in the Commons tomorrow (Tuesday 2 February). The Catch-22 situation stems from the 2005 Energy Act which protected pension provision under the privatisation legislation, but the Enterprise bill now has a clause that caps redundancy payments at £95,000, apparently aimed at top executives leaving the public sector. Unite is highlighting Magnox as a key example, but points out that the Enterprise bill will also affect about 30,000 people working throughout the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) estate who will also be affected by the £95,000 exit cap.
Unite 1st Feb 2016 read more »
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has contributed £500,000 to Innovate UK’s Energy Game Changer fund. The funding, which now stands at £2 million, will be distributed among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) outside the energy sector, with allocation taking place through a competitive process conducted by Innovate UK. Projects will typically last between six and 12 months, and will range in size from £25,000 to £100,000, the NDA said. Though the fund is designed to encourage new entrants into all energy industry sectors, the NDA said it was “particularly interested” in technologies that can be applied to decommissioning challenges.
Process Engineering 1st Feb 2016 read more »
Yorkshire engineering group Renew has strengthened its nuclear services offering with the acquisition of a specialist business operating at Sellafield and other UK nuclear sites. Renew has agreed to pay around £235,000 in cash for Nuclear Decontamination Services Limited, which had revenues of £188,000 and a pre-tax profit of £105,000 in the year ending January 2015.
Yorkshire Evening Post 1st Feb 2016 read more »