The £100 million Silo Emptying Plant will scoop radioactive waste out of the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo.

The 1960s storage facility has been described as one of the most hazardous buildings in western Europe and contains 10,000 cubic metres of intermediate level waste from the earliest days of the UK’s civil nuclear industry.

John Clarke, outgoing NDA Chief Executive, unveiled the machine – the first of three being assembled in the building – at a ceremony yesterday.

He said:

This is an enormous step forward for the Sellafield decommissioning programme.

It is the culmination of 20 years of work to get to the position where we’ve got the first machine in place that will retrieve waste from these silos.

The machines will sit on rails on top of the silo’s 22 vertical waste compartments. Each compartment is big enough to accommodate six double decker buses stacked three high.

Once operational, the emptying machines will be manoeuvred into place over the top of each compartment to scoop out their contents.

The material will then be packed into nuclear skips and sent to modern waste stores at Sellafield, pending final disposal in the UK’s Geological Disposal Facility.

The machines will be ready to start retrieving waste in 2018, taking an estimated 20-25 years to complete the task.

Chris Halliwell, head of the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo, said:

This is probably the most complicated and advanced machine ever built at Sellafield.

It has about 13,500 different working parts and its design and concept was first drawn up more than 20 years ago.

Turning that vision into the machine we have today has been a major challenge for the UK’s advanced manufacturing and nuclear supply chain.

The process has been hugely challenging because no plans were drawn up for how waste would be taken out of the building when it was built in the 1960s.

The emptying machines were built by engineering firm NES Ansaldo at its Wolverhampton factory, before being dismantled and sent to Sellafield in 23 separate modules.

These modules were lifted one by one into the silo building and then re-assembled in situ.

Chris Halliwell added:

There is no job at Sellafield more important than the one being done by this machine. Emptying the waste from this legacy silo is our number one priority.

It has to be reliable because once it starts taking waste out, the contamination inside it would make it very difficult to maintain or repair.

The silo took waste from nuclear power stations all over the UK until its closure in June 2000.

Its contents are chiefly made up of magnesium cladding which was stripped from nuclear fuel rods before they were sent for reprocessing.

From Wednesday 1 March, the Bank of England’s new Prudential Regulation Committee (PRC) will take control of the Prudential Regulation Authority’s (PRA) most important financial stability supervision and policy decisions.

The change, which was set out in the Bank of England and Financial Services Act 2016, ends the PRA’s subsidiary status to the Bank and sees the PRC replace the PRA board. There are no changes to the PRA’s objectives or functions.

These changes will mean the Bank of England is better equipped to fulfil its vital role of overseeing monetary policy and financial stability for the whole of the UK by strengthening the governance and accountability of the Bank.

The Chancellor has reappointed the external members of the PRA Board to the PRC and has approved the new appointment by the Governor of the Bank of England of Ben Broadbent to the PRC.

Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Kirby, said:

A well-regulated financial system is central to a strong economy. Since 2010, we have radically reformed how the UK’s financial services industry is supervised and put the Bank of England back at the heart of the system, where it belongs.

Integrating the Prudential Regulation Authority with the Bank of England completes this process and strengthens the governance and accountability of the Bank.

The Prudential Regulation Committee is created on the same legal footing as the Monetary Policy Committee and the Financial Policy Committee.

The Bank of England and Financial Services Act 2016 is the government’s third major piece of legislation since 2010 to fundamentally reform the financial sector.

The Financial Services Act 2012 dismantled the failed tripartite system, putting the Bank of England at the centre of a new framework of financial regulation.

The Banking Reform Act 2013 put in place strict new rules on bank ring-fencing and made sweeping changes to enhance individual accountability and raise standards in banking.

Ruth Eastwood

Currently CEO of the Grade II* Listed Matcham Grand Theatre in Blackpool, Ruth has worked in touring, presenting and producing theatres from Hull Truck to the Royal National Theatre. She has also worked as a freelance arts management and organisational development specialist. From 2006-09 she was Chief Executive of Leicester Theatre Trust and from 1997-2006 of Poole Arts Trust where she also managed large scale capital developments. Ruth Eastwood became a Trustee of The Theatres Trust on 7 February 2011. She has been reappointed for a period of three years, ending on 6 February 2020.

Dara Ó Briain

Dara is a comedian and television presenter, noted for hosting television shows such as Mock the Week, Dara Ó Briain: School of Hard Sums and The Apprentice: You’re Fired! Dara began his career by performing in comedy clubs in Ireland; he now tours both nationally and internationally. When not on tour, he works regularly as an after-dinner Speaker and awards host, having presented the Bafta Telly awards, the Bafta Video Game awards and the Empire Movie awards, amongst many others. Dara has also written a book; Tickling the English published in 2009 and has now written for most of the national papers in the UK and Ireland, including a year as sports columnist for the Guardian. Dara Ó Briain became a Trustee of The Theatres Trust on 1 April 2014. He has been reappointed for a period of three years, ending on 31 March 2020.

Peter Roberts

Peter has spent the last 55 years working in the theatre industry, he recently was the technical director and head of theatre development at Cameron Mackintosh. Peter is now a freelance theatre consultant. Peter has not only worked in theatres all over Great Britain but he has also worked on theatres internationally including, USA, Canada, Thailand, Australia, France and Germany. Peter is currently a Governor at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and has been a member of the Society of London Theatres for 34 years. He is also a member of the Steering Group of The British Entertainment Industry Radio Group which negotiates with Ofcom on Radio Spectrum allocation for live performances. Peter Roberts became a Trustee of The Theatres Trust on 1 April 2014. He has been reappointed for a period of three years, ending on 31 March 2020.

Ann Skippers

Ann Skippers is a chartered town planner with over twenty-five years’ experience in planning in a career which has spanned the public, private and academic sectors. Having begun her career in local government, Ann runs and is Director of Ann Skippers Planning, a consultancy which specialises in neighbourhood planning and providing training and support to a range of clients on planning matters. Ann was President of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) in 2010 and has been actively involved with the RTPI throughout her career holding a number of positions, but is currently a member of General Assembly. She was the Vice President (Europe) of the Commonwealth Association of Planners from 2010-2012 and Vice Chair of the Construction Industry Council from 2011-2014. In 2014 Ann was appointed to the Board of the Built Environment Professional Education Project. Ann has also been a non-salaried Planning Inspector since 2004. She is currently a Visiting Professor in the Bartlett School of Planning at University College London. Ann Skippers became a Trustee of The Theatres Trust on 1 April 2014. She has been reappointed for a period of three years, ending on 31 March 2020.

Anna Stapleton

Anna Stapleton is a Freelance Arts Professional, with over forty years’ experience of working in the arts. Previous posts include Administrative Director at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow; Drama & Dance Director at the Scottish Arts Council; Drama Director at the Arts Council of England and work with a range of producing theatres including the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh; the Liverpool Everyman Theatre; Perth Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. Anna Stapleton is currently is a Trustee of Horsecross Arts Ltd. and became a Trustee of The Theatres Trust on 12 May 2014. She has been reappointed for a period of three years, ending on 11 May 2020.

Trustees for the Theatres Trust are not remunerated. This appointment has been made in accordance with the OCPA Code of Practice. It is a requirement of the Code that political activity by those appointed is declared. Ruth Eastwood, Dara Ó Briain, Peter Roberts, Ann Skippers and Anna Stapleton have all declared that they have not carried out any political activity.

La La Land – awarded Best Original Music Score – features a next-generation synthesizer, developed by ROLI with support from Innovate UK.

The Defence and Security Accelerator recently launched the Enduring Challenge.