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Charges

Date released
19 May 2023
Request number
202303057
Release of information under
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Information requested

Please may I request the total annual regulatory charge levied by ONR to each of the following nuclear licensees during the 12 month period from January 2022 to December 2022:

  1. Inutec Limited, Winfrith, Dorset
  2. Magnox Limited, Winfrith Dorset
  3. EDF Cyclife Limited, Workington, Cumbria
  4. Urenco Nuclear Stewardship Limited, Capenhurst, Cheshire
  5. Westinghouse Clean Energy Park, Springfields, Lancashire

Please provide the data as a table of Organisation Name vs Total Cost (£K)

Information released

We confirm that under s.1 of the FOIA, we hold some of the information relevant to your request. Please see below for our response.  

Please note that our charges are not levies but are charges for services licensees received in line with our governing legislation.

Questions 1 and 2

The total charges for services provided by ONR to Tradebe Inutec Ltd for the requested period was £126,506.31.

The total charges for services provided by ONR to Magnox Limited (Winfrith, Dorset) for the requested period was £361,858.00.

Organisation name (FOI request) Organisation name (ONR records) Total cost (£)
Inutec Limited, Winfrith, Dorset Tradebe Inutec Ltd 126,506.31
Magnox Limited, Winfrith, Dorset Magnox Ltd 361,858

Question 3

I confirm that under s.1 we do hold this information however this information has been withheld under s.43(2) (commercial interests) of the FOIA. S.43(2) exempts information whose disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any legal person (an individual, a company, the public authority itself or any other legal entity).

As s.43(2) is a qualified exemption we are required to balance the public interest between disclosure and non-disclosure. We have therefore applied the Public Interest Test, as set out in the relevant section below. 

Questions 4 and 5

You have requested the costs levied by ONR to both Urenco Nuclear Stewardship Limited (Capenhurst, Cheshire) and Westinghouse Clean Energy Park (Springfields, Lancashire).

We can confirm that these organisations are not ONR licensees and, having searched our databases, we do not have any financial records matching those organisations. Urenco Nuclear Stewardship is a tenant on the Urenco UK Nuclear Licensed Site, we do not hold any records for Urenco Nuclear Stewardship. In addition, we do not hold any records for Westinghouse Clean Energy Park.

We can confirm, however, that we hold records for “Urenco UK Ltd” covering the entire Capenhurst site and “Springfield Fuels Ltd” covering the entire Springfields site. If you would like us to supply information on these licensees, please confirm by way of return and we will certainly look into providing this information to you.

Exemptions applied

s.43(2)

PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable

The Public Interest Test for the application of s.43(2) against Question 3

Factors for disclosure

  • ONR is committed to being an open and transparent regulator. We use openness and transparency to achieve our objective of developing and maintaining stakeholder trust in ONR as an effective independent regulator; and
  • Issues related to the nuclear industry are subject to close scrutiny and debate, there is a public interest in information related to nuclear activities and the release of such information.

Factors against disclosure

  • Cyclife UK Ltd operates in a highly competitive market, where price is often a deciding factor when securing contracts.
Regulatory costs are considered within the licensee’s approach to costing their services, and as some of their competitors operate on sites that are not regulated by the ONR, the release of this information could enable competitors to understand their operating costs or pricing structures in greater detail, providing a commercial advantage which could arm competitors with ways to undercut pricing and win future tenders, release of this information would be likely to prejudice our licensees’ commercial interests as it would undermine their ability to participate competitively in such a difficult market; and
  • ONR strongly believes that the release of this information, particularly as opposition has been expressed by Cyclife UK Ltd, would be likely to prejudice our relationship with them and could lead to a lack of confidence, reputational damage and the diminishing of trust placed in us by not only the licensee in question, but our other licensees too.

Conclusion

ONR tries to be as open as possible when answering requests for information, however on this occasion we have decided that the substantive arguments for non-disclosure outweigh the reasons for disclosure for Cyclife UK Ltd.’s financial information and the release of the information would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of Cyclife UK Ltd.

Whilst we appreciate that there is an expectation on ONR, as a public body, to be open and transparent about its financial activities, it is not believed that the interests of the public outweigh the prejudice that would be caused to our licensee should this information be released.

As such, we have declined to release the information requested relating to Cyclife UK Ltd in line with s.43(2).

Further guidance on the exemption can be found on the ICO’s website: s.43 (commercial interests).