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42-479: Although the NDA itself employs about 250 staff, its subsidiaries employ about 15,000 staff across the NDA estate. Its annual budget is £3.5   billion, the vast majority of which is spent through contracts with site licence companies, who also subcontract to other companies which provide special services. The NDA aims to do this by introducing innovation and contractor expertise through a series of competitions similar to

84-591: A consortium made up of Serco , Battelle and the University of Manchester had been selected as the new management contractors for the NNL. The contract was for an initial three-year period with options to be extended by up to two years. DECC had been engaged in competitive dialogue with the winning consortium as well as QQEST, a joint venture between QinetiQ and EnergySolutions , since October 2008. The management contract commenced on 1 April 2009, when ownership of

126-700: A panel of five justices. More than five justices may sit on a panel where the case is of "high constitutional importance" or "great public importance"; if the case raises "an important point in relation to the European Convention on Human Rights"; if the case involves a conflict of decisions among the House of Lords, Judicial Committee of the Privy Council , or Supreme Court; or if the Court "is being asked to depart, or may decide to depart from" its (or

168-549: A referendum without the permission of Westminster, as questions around independence qualify as "reserved matters" (reserved to the central government) under the Scotland Act 1998 . Nicola Sturgeon , the then-leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party , regarded the decision as "a hard pill for any supporter of independence... to swallow" but reiterated the party's commitment to "find another democratic, lawful means for Scottish people to express their will". From

210-474: A select committee of the House of Lords scrutinised the arguments for and against setting up a new court. The Government estimated the set-up cost of the Supreme Court at £56.9 million. The first case heard by the Supreme Court was HM Treasury v Ahmed , which concerned "the separation of powers", according to Phillips, its inaugural President. At issue was the extent to which Parliament has, by

252-682: A separate administration from the other courts of the United Kingdom, under a Chief Executive who is appointed by the Court's president. King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee In Scotland,

294-826: A sustainable workforce such as the National Skills Academy for Nuclear (NSAN) network, including the development of Energus in West Cumbria, alongside complementary research and development facilities such as the Dalton Nuclear Institute. UK Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ( initialism : UKSC ) is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases and for criminal cases originating in England , Wales and Northern Ireland . As

336-663: The Court of Session . The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal in relation to Scottish civil cases. However, the High Court of Justiciary is the highest court of appeal in relation to Scottish criminal cases. The Supreme Court also determines devolution issues (as defined by the Scotland Act 1998 , the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and the Government of Wales Act 2006 ). These are legal proceedings about

378-748: The High Court of Justiciary , the Court of Session and the Office of the Accountant of Court make up the College of Justice and are known as the Supreme Courts of Scotland . The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. National Nuclear Laboratory The National Nuclear Laboratory (informally NNL , formerly Nexia Solutions ) is a UK government owned and operated nuclear services technology provider covering

420-708: The House of Lords to carry out its judicial business as the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords . Its jurisdiction over devolution matters had previously been exercised by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council . The creation of a Supreme Court for the United Kingdom was first proposed in a consultation paper published by the Department of Constitutional Affairs in July 2003. Although

462-599: The Manchester Civil Justice Centre . The United Kingdom has a doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty and no entrenched codified constitution , so the Supreme Court is much more limited in its powers of judicial review than the constitutional or supreme courts of some other countries such as the United States , Canada and Australia . It cannot overturn any primary legislation made by Parliament . However, as with any law court in

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504-696: The United Nations Act 1946 , delegated to the executive the power to legislate. Resolution of this issue depended upon the approach properly to be adopted by the court in interpreting legislation which may affect fundamental rights at common law or under the European Convention on Human Rights. One of the most important cases presented to the Supreme Court was the joint cases of R (Miller) v The Prime Minister and Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland , known as Miller/Cherry , on Boris Johnson's unlawful prorogation (suspension) of Parliament, to suppress debate in anticipation of Britain's withdrawal from

546-484: The University of Sheffield and on nuclear materials research with the University of Manchester . The organisation began to come together in 1996 when a number of separate research and development facilities began to coalesce into a single unit within British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). In 2003, this research and technology business was re-launched as Nuclear Sciences and Technology Services (NSTS) to ready

588-607: The Constitutional Reform Act limits the number of judges on the Court to 12, though it also allows for this rule to be amended, to further increase the number of judges, if a resolution is passed in both Houses of Parliament. It assumed the judicial functions of the House of Lords , which had been exercised by the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (commonly called " Law Lords "), the 12 judges appointed as members of

630-548: The Devolution Acts and the Human Rights Act 1998. On rare occasions the court may have original jurisdiction, normally in cases relating to contempt of the Supreme Court, such as Proceedings for Contempt: Mr Tim Crosland and its appeal case HM Attorney General v Crosland . The twelve justices do not all hear every case. Unless there are circumstances requiring a larger panel, a case is usually heard by

672-514: The European Union (argued in 2016 and decided in 2017) and the cases of R (Miller) v The Prime Minister and Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland (argued and decided in 2019). The justices have never worn court dress during sittings. In November 2011, The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers allowed counsel to jointly agree to "dispense with any or all of the traditional elements of court dress" at sittings. The Supreme Court has

714-462: The European Union, "frustrating or preventing the constitutional role of Parliament in holding the Government to account". It is one of only two cases that involved the presence of 11 judges (the highest number of judges currently allowed to rule on a case). The case carried a large amount of political tension in the context of the process of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union; for some,

756-497: The House of Lords') previous precedent. The composition of panels is ultimately determined by the President. To avoid a tie, all cases are heard by a panel containing an odd number of justices. Thus, the largest possible panel for a case is 11 justices. To date, there have been only two cases (both involving matters of major constitutional importance) heard by 11 justices: the case of R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting

798-493: The Human Rights Act to amend the legislation by statutory instrument to remove the incompatibility or ask Parliament to amend the legislation. As authorised by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 , Part 3, Section 23(1), the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was formally established on 1 October 2009 and is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom . Section 23 of

840-464: The NDA for the management and transportation of nuclear fuels. Both have since merged to become Nuclear Transport Solutions. The NDA is also the owner of Radioactive Waste Management (RWM), which is responsible for implementing a geological disposal facility in the UK and provide radioactive waste management solutions. In February 2017, a national archive for the UK civil nuclear industry, named Nucleus,

882-465: The NDA had "dramatically under-estimated" costs and "completely failed" in the procurement and management of the Magnox Ltd contract, which was one of the highest value contracts let by the government. An independent inquiry into the deal was set up. The main objectives of NDA are to: Responsibility for operating the sites has been restructured into five site licence companies (SLC). Management of

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924-461: The NDA sold land near three existing reactor sites for expected new nuclear power stations, for over £200   million. In 2013, a critical Public Accounts Committee report stated that the private consortium managing Sellafield has failed to reduce costs and delays. Between 2005 and 2013, the annual costs of operating Sellafield increased from £900   million to about £1.6   billion. The estimated lifetime undiscounted cost of dealing with

966-573: The NNL transferred from BNFL directly to DECC with shareholder responsibilities delegated to the Shareholder Executive . Mike Lawrence of Battelle was appointed to lead the new NNL management team as managing director. He had more than 40 years of experience in the nuclear profession, including management of the United States Hanford Reservation and its massive site clean-up program, and his former role as

1008-543: The SLCs was formerly contracted out to different parent body organisations (PBO), some of which were initially owned by private companies. More recently, the NDA has transitioned to a "group approach" of SLCs being wholly-owned NDA subsidiaries On its creation, the NDA also took over ownership of Direct Rail Services , the rail freight operating company set up by BNFL in 1995 to transport nuclear materials; and International Nuclear Services , which operates services on behalf of

1050-500: The Sellafield site increased to £67.5   billion. Bosses were forced to apologise after projected clean-up costs passed the £70   billion mark in late 2013. In 2014, the undiscounted decommissioning cost estimate for Sellafield was increased to £79.1   billion, and by 2015 to £117.4   billion. The annual operating cost will be £2   billion in 2016. In 2018, the discount rate used in evaluating future spending

1092-485: The Supreme Court – The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in the UK for civil cases, and for criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It hears cases of the greatest public or constitutional importance affecting the whole population. The Supreme Court hears appeals (i) in England and Wales, from the Court of Appeal (Civil Division), the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) and (ii) in Scotland from

1134-405: The UK, it can overturn secondary legislation if, for an example, that legislation is found to be ultra vires to the powers in primary legislation allowing it to be made. Further, under section 4 of the Human Rights Act 1998 , the Supreme Court, like some other courts in the United Kingdom, may make a declaration of incompatibility , indicating that it believes that the legislation subject to

1176-840: The United Kingdom's highest appellate court for these matters, it hears cases of the greatest public or constitutional importance affecting the whole population. The Court usually sits in the Middlesex Guildhall in Westminster , though it can sit elsewhere and has, for example, sat in the Edinburgh City Chambers , the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, the Tŷ Hywel Building in Cardiff and

1218-546: The business for transformation into a fully commercial entity. In 2005, following the restructuring of the wider nuclear industry, Nexia Solutions was formed out of NSTS, as a wholly owned subsidiary of BNFL. In July 2006, the UK Government stated its intention to preserve and develop key research and development capabilities potentially as part of a National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL). In October 2006, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry , Alistair Darling , announced

1260-473: The declaration is incompatible with one of the rights in the European Convention on Human Rights . Such a declaration can apply to primary or secondary legislation. The legislation is not overturned by the declaration, and neither Parliament nor the government is required to agree with any such declaration. However, if they do accept a declaration, ministers can exercise powers under section 10 of

1302-624: The establishment of the NNL, to be based on Nexia Solutions and the British Technology Centre at the Sellafield facility. NNL was formally announced by John Hutton , Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in an announcement at the Sellafield Visitors Centre on 23 July 2008. On 23 March 2009 it was announced by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) that

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1344-535: The independence and impartiality of the courts at risk. Consequently, it was hypothesised closely connected decisions of the Law Lords to debates had by friends or on which the Lord Chancellor had expressed a view might be challenged on human-rights grounds on the basis that they had not constituted a fair trial. The Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury , later President of the Supreme Court, expressed fear that

1386-559: The model that has been used in the United States. In April 2017, the NDA lost a legal case in the Supreme Court regarding the procurement of a sizeable contract for the decommissioning of twelve different Magnox nuclear facilities when EnergySolutions EU (now called ATK Energy EU) challenged a decision in connection with ATK's unsuccessful bid. In February 2018 Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) concluded that

1428-520: The new court could make itself more powerful than the House of Lords committee it succeeded, saying that there is a real risk of "judges arrogating to themselves greater power than they have at the moment". The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers said such an outcome was "a possibility", but was "unlikely". The reforms were controversial and were brought forward with little consultation but were subsequently extensively debated in Parliament. During 2004,

1470-401: The paper noted that there had been no criticism of the then-current Law Lords or any indication of an actual bias, it argued that the separation of the judicial functions of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords from the legislative functions of the House of Lords should be made explicit. The paper noted the following concerns: The main argument against a new Supreme Court was that

1512-769: The powers of the three devolved administrations—the Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly , the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament , the Welsh Government and Senedd . Devolution issues were previously heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and most are about compliance with rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, brought into national law by

1554-537: The previous system had worked well and kept costs down. Reformers expressed concern that this second main example of a mixture of the legislative, judicial and executive might conflict with professed values under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . Officials who make or execute laws have an interest in court cases that put those laws to the test. When the state invests judicial authority in those officials or even their day-to-day colleagues, it puts

1596-463: The ruling "delighted 'Remainers' but appalled 'Leavers ' ", although some Conservative MPs who sought to withdraw from the EU with an agreement had opposed the prorogation. In 2022, the Supreme Court ruled on whether the Scottish Parliament had the power to legislate for a second independence referendum . In the case, the five-judge panel unanimously found that Scotland did not have the right to organise

1638-402: The then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced his support for a National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) to be based on the British Technology Centre at Sellafield and Nexia Solutions. The NDA, as the owner of Sellafield site and the funder of majority of research required across the nuclear estate, was involved establishing the NNL in 2009. The NNL complements other initiatives to develop

1680-735: The whole of the nuclear fuel cycle. It is fully customer-funded and operates at six locations in the United Kingdom. Its customers have included the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority , Sellafield Ltd , Westinghouse , the Health and Safety Executive , the Ministry of Defence , the UK Atomic Energy Authority , VT Nuclear and British Energy . It also has links with academia, including collaborative agreements on waste immobilisation and disposal with

1722-400: Was changed from a HM Treasury determined real terms discount rate to a rate that combined a nominal discount rate and an implied inflation rate based on Consumer Price Index forecasts. This nearly halved the estimate of the remaining cost of decommissioning and clean-up. The expenditure of the NDA in 2022/23 was £3,759M and income £1,059M, leading to a net expenditure of £2,700M. In 2006,

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1764-697: Was opened in Wick, Caithness , Scotland. In 2005, the cost of decommissioning these sites was planned at £55.8   billion, with Sellafield requiring £31.5   billion. However, in 2006, the NDA reported that the cost of cleaning up existing waste was higher than previously thought, and gave a new estimated decommissioning cost of about £72   billion over a 100-year period. In 2008, estimated decommissioning costs increased to £73.6   billion, or after taking account of discount rates , £44.1   billion. A 2006 estimate foresaw £14   billion of offsetting income from reprocessing fuel at Sellafield . In 2009,

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