| Administrative History | The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) was formed in 1954 when the British Government set up a new body to oversee the nation’s nuclear research programme. The role was to provide Britain’s atomic weapons deterrent and develop reactor technologies for the nuclear power stations of the future.
Early achievements included the Dounreay Fast Reactor, which went critical in 1959.
From 1965, UKAEA branched out into commercial and non-nuclear activities to take advantage of spin-off potential from nuclear technology.
A reorganisation of the UK’s civil nuclear industry in the early 1970s saw changes to UKAEA’s structure and role with the transfer of responsibilities in weapons research, fuel production, isotope production and radiological protection to other organisations.
The civil nuclear programme ended with the closure of the Prototype Fast Reactor at Dounreay in 1994.
In April 2005 the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was formed to take responsibility for the UK’s civil nuclear clean-up programme. UKAEA became a contractor to the NDA for management of decommissioning at Dounreay, Harwell, Windscale, Winfrith and the JET facilities at Culham.
In April 2008, UKAEA Limited was formed as a commercial arm, subsidiary company Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) was licensed by the NII, and the Windscale site was merged into the newly licensed Sellafield Limited. This was followed in February 2009 by the licensing of subsidiary company Research Sites Restoration Limited (RSRL), covering the Harwell and Winfrith sites.
Following a sale process announced by Government in March 2009, UKAEA Limited, together with its subsidiary companies DSRL and RSRL, were sold to Babcock International Group PLC on 31st October 2009. The remaining UKAEA organisation then focused on fusion energy research at Culham
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