Civil Nuclear Reactors Generic Design Assessment … · 2018. 11. 14. · Progress and Achievements Programme overview Civil Nuclear Reactors Generic Design Assessment Decommissioning,

Office for Nuclear Regulation Annual Review 2011/12 1 / 26

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Introduction from Mike Weightman

Chair’s reflection of ONR’s first year

Progress and Achievements

Programme overviewCivil Nuclear ReactorsGeneric Design AssessmentDecommissioning, Fuel and WasteSellafieldDefenceCivil Nuclear Security Radioactive Materials Transport

Looking ahead to 2012/13

Keeping up to date with ONR

Glossary

http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/


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In order to successfully meet the challenges and potential demands ahead, we have introduced a programme management methodology to ensure increased efficiency and effectiveness across the organisation. To support this, we are continuing work to re-organise our structure into delivery-focused programmes that will go some way to ensuring greater consistency, flexibility and integration. Most recently, we have made some further internal changes to senior management that will contribute to our continuing development.

One of our prime goals in our initial year as ONR, was to work towards greater openness and transparency across all that we do. I believe that we have done a great deal over the past year to inform and engage with stakeholders and publicise our regulatory decisions, but I am aware that there is much more that we can do, and I remain dedicated to furthering openness and transparency in the year ahead.

Welcome to our annual review for the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), which will provide an overview of our first year as an agency of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). I can confidently say that our first year has been a busy and challenging year, but also one of significant achievement and development.

During our first year, I have continued to be impressed by the dedication and professionalism of our staff, who have adapted well to change and have demonstrated clear commitment to the key work activities necessary to achieve our mission ‘securing the protection of people and society from the hazards of the nuclear industry.’

In October 2011, ONR extended its remit to include regulatory responsibility for the transport of radioactive material. The transfer from the Department for Transport (DfT) was a key milestone in transforming ONR into a single, integrated independent nuclear regulator for the UK.


“I can confidently say that our first year has been a busy and challenging year”Mike Weightman

HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear

Installations, Executive Head of ONR


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all of our work following the >nuclear accident at the Fukishima Dai-ich plant in Japan, for which our work has been rightly praised.

I am proud of what we have achieved in our first year as ONR, but I appreciate that there is more that we can do. I am looking forward to the challenges ahead and I am confident that we can further establish ONR as a world class nuclear regulator, viewed as such by our stakeholders both in the UK and internationally.

process in granting interim design acceptance for two new reactors proposed for the UK;

our consideration of the nuclear >site licence for a proposed new nuclear power station, Hinkley Point C;

the introduction of new reporting >arrangements for licensees and other duty holders to report incidents to ONR;

the considerable progress in >nuclear security regulation; and

As well as progressing significantly as an organisation, it is important to note that this has been done alongside the considerable achievements in continuing our normal business of regulating the UK’s nuclear industry, and our significant contribution to the international arena, including:

the day-to-day regulation of the >nuclear licensed sites in the UK and of the transport of nuclear and radioactive material;

the achievement of a key >milestone in the nuclear new build


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to build on its current strengths as a world class regulator and we will be better placed to respond quickly and flexibly to current and future regulatory challenges.

A guiding principle for ONR is our commitment to being open and transparent about our activities and judgements. We have embarked on a process of publishing more of our papers and reports on our website. We have made engagement with our stakeholders a priority. We continue to have an annual conference with the senior representatives of the nuclear industry. We have added a twice yearly forum with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), hosted by Mike Weightman, to make sure that critical voices are heard. In the past twelve months we have hosted community events based on our work arising from the Fukushima accident. We have also hosted an event specific to the community around the Sizewell nuclear licensed sites. I am keen that we continue with this level of engagement as we work to earn the trust and confidence of all our stakeholders.

ONR has had a successful first year of operation as an agency of HSE. The organisation has developed considerably and achieved a great deal.

We have established and populated a Board with a clear governance framework. We have adopted a new vision for the organisation and published a strategy to achieve that vision. We have published a Corporate Plan and adopted a new set of key performance indicators so that we can monitor our performance and effectiveness. We have reorganised ourselves into clear integrated programmes that align with the industry sectors that we regulate. We are now working hard to realise the benefits of these changes while retaining focus on our mission of securing the protection of people and society from the hazards of the nuclear industry.

More changes are on the way. The recent Queen’s Speech and subsequent draft Energy Bill outlined plans which will lead to the creation of the ONR as a statutory corporation. This will enable ONR

Chair’s review of ONR’s first yearNick Baldwin

“A guiding principle for ONR is our commitment to being open and transparent about our activities and judgements”

Nick Baldwin

ONR chair


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Board and making it effective. I would also like to thank all the people in government departments, industry and NGOs who have shown great willingness to interact and engage with us over the past year. It is this combination of internal and external commitment and interaction that has made this year’s successes possible and has laid the foundations for future success.

to publicly express my thanks to Mike and his team for an excellent piece of work that enhanced the reputations of both ONR and Mike.

I would like to thank all the management and staff of ONR for their dedication, commitment and hard work over the past twelve months and to the Board members for their efforts in establishing the

I have developed strong relationships with both HSE and the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP), our sponsor department. I have found that the Minister for Employment, Chris Grayling, who recently visited our offices in Bootle, has a strong understanding of the importance of ONR’s work as an independent nuclear regulator. I will continue to work closely with DWP and the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) over the next year as the Energy Bill progresses through Parliament.

It is not possible to reflect on the events of the past twelve months without reference to the Fukushima accident in March 2011. Mike Weightman led an investigation into the implications of the accident at the request of the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Mike’s interim and final reports were widely recognised as authoritative studies, both in the UK and internationally. Mike also led the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) team that investigated the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi site. I would like

ONR inspector at a nuclear licensed site


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(RMT) joining ONR from the DfT in October 2011. RMT joined as one of our six key operational programmes, joining existing safety, security and safeguards functions. The integration of our regulatory functions means that we are one step further in preparing for the establishment of ONR as a statutory corporation.

In our first edition of quarterly news at the beginning of the year, we highlighted openness and transparency as a key priority for the organisation, and we have continued to strive for greater openness and transparency in our first 12 months. We are now publishing more information online and holding regular engagement events with various audiences, which has been welcomed by our stakeholders. We introduced a new communication channel through our quarterly news, which has now completed a full year of circulation, and we have been working to make improvements to our website, to ensure that our regulatory work is highlighted regularly and is easily accessible.

In our first 12 months, we made considerable progress as a new organisation, making several changes and developing our internal structure and processes, as highlighted earlier in this review.

We appreciate that we still have a long way to go as we move through the transitional period to become a statutory corporation, and will face many challenges along the way. We are confident that as a result of our continuing work to develop the organisation, we will be better placed to respond to those challenges, and the changing priorities and challenges of the nuclear industry and society.

This year, we took forward our aim to create ONR as an integrated regulator, with Radioactive Materials Transport

Progress and achievements

This year, we completed our aim to create ONR as an integrated regulator

Office for Nuclear Regulation – An agency of HSE

Cover Introduction Corporate update Q3 at a glance Programme updates Spotlight: Transport Spotlight: i-DAC Looking ahead

page 1 of 15 pages

October – December 2011

Quarterly News

January – March 2012

Quarterly News

Office for Nuclear Regulation – An agency of HSE page 1 of 20 pages

Cover Introduction Corporate update Q4 at a glance Programme updates Spotlight One Spotlight Two Looking ahead


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every licensee of each nuclear power generating country in Europe agreed to carry out. This involved a targeted reassessment of each station’s safety margins in light of extreme natural events, such as earthquake and tsunami. In the UK, Mike Weightman extended the stress test process to non-power generating nuclear facilities. All of the reports are available to view here.

Our work does not stop there and we will continue to ensure that lessons are learnt from Fukushima as we move into our second year as ONR, and in the long-term future. The next step will be publication of a progress report on the recommendations in the Autumn of 2012/13.

ONR, Mike Weightman, was tasked with leading an investigation and reporting on the implications of the accident and lessons learned for the UK nuclear industry.

In the past year, we had a dedicated programme of work specifically relating to Fukushima, involving 89 different ONR staff. We produced interim and final reports in a timely manner, with the final report outlining 16 conclusions and 38 recommendations in total. The report stated overall that there are no fundamental weaknesses in the regulation of the UK nuclear industry or indeed the industry itself.

In addition, we published four reports on the stress tests, which

Fukushima and stress tests

In addition to our primary responsibility to effectively regulate the UK’s nuclear licensed installations and transport, shortly before our creation as ONR, we were faced with the unforeseen challenge of responding to the Fukushima event in Japan in March 2011, which became a prominent work stream throughout our first year.

The massive earthquake and tsunami that caused the serious nuclear accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was unforseen, and the UK and other countries must learn from the disaster, which has required a significant amount of work and additional resource.

In the initial period, we responded by setting up our incident suite to provide expert advice for UK government on the implications for the 17,000 UK citizens in Japan, and for over two weeks, we operated our incident response and provided advice to COBRA and the government’s chief scientific adviser. Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations and Executive Head of

IAEA Fukushima visit

http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/fukushima/index.htm


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Emergency preparedness and response

We are committed to ensuring appropriate arrangements are in place to deal with a nuclear emergency. At international, national and regional levels, we seek to influence and assess UK arrangements, through our Emergency Preparedness and Response team. We work in partnership with other government departments, emergency response agencies, licensees of nuclear installations and other stakeholders.

During our first year as ONR, the team restructured and introduced a new process for emergency arrangements. It now operates under four workstreams - (1) on-site, (2) off-site and (3) ONR’s own emergency arrangements, as well as (4) UK government and international arrangements and agreements. Key achievements and areas of focus for the team in the 2011/12 operational year included:

Updating emergency response >training in light of the experience gained from Fukushima, to include

New reporting arrangements for licenseesIn January 2012, we introduced new arrangements for licensees and other duty holders to report incidents to ONR. It is a legal requirement for all licensees to report incidents on site, which help us to assess the safety of nuclear installations, learn from experience and plan our interventions. We have introduced a new standard set of reporting criteria which covers nuclear and radiological safety, nuclear security, safeguards and transport safety.

Licensees are now required to submit a standard form for incidents, giving details of the incident, its significance and actions they have taken. In addition, we’re asking licensees to provide a follow-up report 60 days after each incident which will give us the full cycle of the incident. Going forward, the new arrangements will give us better and more consistent information and will enable us to improve our analysis of events and to meet good international practice.

First application for a nuclear site licence in 20 yearsIn July 2011, we received the first site licence application for a new nuclear power station in 20 years, which was a significant milestone for ONR as we strive towards our vision of becoming a world-leading nuclear regulator. The application from Nuclear New Build Generation Company (NNB GenCo) is one of a number of proposed new nuclear power stations in the UK, the first planned for Hinkley, a site that already hosts one operating and one decommissioning power station.

Since receiving the application for Hinkley Point C, we have been working to assess NNB GenCo’s suitability, capability and competence to install, operate and decommission a nuclear facility in conjunction with our assessment of two new reactor designs as part of the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) work. You can read more about new build and the GDA process later in this report.


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Effective regulationThroughout the year, we have continued to effectively regulate the UK’s nuclear licensed installations, working through our core activities to achieve our mission.

Influencing improvements – >strategically engaging with the nuclear industry to influence the creation of an excellent safety and security culture.

Ensuring industry compliance >with safety and security regulations and international obligations.

Engaging our stakeholders to >create an open and transparent regulatory dialogue with all stakeholders groups.

Making substantiated, independent >balanced judgements and decisions.

You can read more about our key achievements from the perspective of each key operational programme later in this report.

information) regulations 2001 (REPPIR) off site plan reviews for UK nuclear licensed sites, identifying three key issues that are now being progressed via the Nuclear Emergency Planning and Liaison Group (NEPLG).

Completing mapping of UK >nuclear emergency capability as part of the DECC National Strategic Framework. Areas of good practice noted and items for enhancement will be progressed via UK national forums e.g. NEPLG and Nuclear Emergency Planning Delivery Committee.

the response to central government, and tested requirements through involvement in level 2 exercises.

Developing bespoke training >for business support staff and improving guidance for ONR emergency response roles.

Commencing a consultation >process with national and international regulators and internal stakeholders in support of the project to improve the robustness of ONR’s emergency response arrangements.

Completing radiation (emergency >preparedness and public

ONR’s incident suite - an emergency exercise in action


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generating reactors, of which there are nine in the UK. Of these, EDF Energy operates eight whilst Magnox Ltd operates Wylfa power station, which is home to the last remaining Magnox power-generating reactor.

Regulating operating nuclear power stations involves, amongst other things, oversight of statutory outages. This year, ONR has been involved in a number of statutory outages at operating power stations including Sizewell B, Heysham 2

Over the past year, we have responded to many challenges such as the implications from the Fukushima nuclear incident in Japan and the prospect of nuclear new build, as well as maintaining the normal business of regulating operating and defueling power stations.

Some of the highlights include:

Operating power stations

The operating part of the CNRP regulates those sites with power-

The Civil Nuclear Reactor Programme (CNRP) regulates the

safety of operating and defueling nuclear power stations and licensing and permissioning of proposed new nuclear power stations. Colin Patchett, Director of CNRP, provides an overview the year’s most noteworthy events.

Programme overview – Colin Patchett

Civil Nuclear Reactors

Sizewell B, photo courtesy of EDF Energy


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consent to transfer fuel from Reactor 2 to Reactor 1 and we are currently examining this request and the associated safety case.

It is also anticipated that Dungeness A power station will declare itself fuel free in Summer 2012. Our inspectors will review the evidence presented by the licensee to make a decision on issuing a licence instrument to withdraw existing approval of operating rules.

New build

In July, ONR received the first site licence application for a new nuclear power station in 20 years. Since then, our new build team has been assessing the application from NNB Genco, relating to its proposed development of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C, Somerset. This has involved establishing a licensing strategy and assessing the applicant’s organisational capability, arrangements and competence to be a nuclear licence-holder, as well as assessing the adequacy of its outline technical safety plans.

and Hinkley Point B. During an outage, the licensee shuts a reactor down in order to carry out essential maintenance inspection and testing; ONR inspectors oversee the activity, inspecting and assessing requests to permission important modifications and the reactor’s return to service.

Regulatory justifications for permissioning and returns to service are available from the ONR website.

Defueling power stations

Power generation ceased at reactors in two of the defueling power stations this year: Oldbury and Wylfa.

The last operational reactor at Oldbury, Reactor 2, ceased power generation permanently in 2011. The licensee, Magnox, plans to implement its planned defueling programme and ONR will continue to regulate safety and security at the site through its defueling, and then its decommissioning stages.

Similarly, Reactor 2 at Wylfa power station shut down permanently in April. Magnox has asked ONR for




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Glossarynew nuclear reactor designs before construction starts.

GDA, a joint programme with the Environment Agency, has continued to assess two new proposed nuclear reactor designs for the UK – EDF/AREVA’s UK EPR and

No overview of this year would be complete without a reference to the events last year at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, which presented a unique set of challenges to GDA and emphasised the value of taking time to assess

Generic Design Assessment, or GDA, is a unique UK process

through which prospective nuclear power station vendors submit their design safety cases for assessment by ONR and the Environment Agency, prior to the start of site-based nuclear construction by future operators (licensees).

Kevin Allars, Director for Nuclear New Build since 2009, reflects on the year’s highlights.

Programme Overview – Kevin Allars

Generic Design Assessment

Westinghouse’s AP1000® reactor design (image courtesy of Westinghouse)


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designs, assessment work is now concentrating on the UK EPR reactor design as Westinghouse has advised us that it will not address any of the GDA issues for its AP1000 reactor design until it secures a UK customer.

In March 2012, we closed the first GDA issue on the UK EPR reactor design, which is one of six civil engineering and external hazards issues. We expect to be in a position to close more GDA issues over the next few months but the timescales are largely dependent on the work programmes of EDF and AREVA, who are now working with NNB Genco (the operator that intends to be the licensee for the Hinkley Point C EPRs) to revise their GDA issue resolution plans. We will be able to say more on this once we have received and considered these revised plans.

I am very proud of the achievements of the GDA team over the past three years. I will be following the GDA process from my new role in ONR as Director for ONR’s Change Programme.

that we were confident that the vendor plans for addressing the outstanding issues we published in July 2011 were credible. We published the outstanding GDA issues for both designs online, together with the industry resolutions plans. It is now for the designers to satisfy us that they have resolved these issues. We will not allow industry to build the reactors in the UK until they have done so.

Although we granted interim design acceptance on both reactor

Westinghouse’s AP1000. Following Fukushima, we introduced an additional GDA issue for both designs to take account of lessons from the accident and extended our assessment work to take account of the recommendations in the Chief Inspector’s reports into the implications for the UK.

We completed our planned assessment of the safety cases provided by both vendors, issuing interim design acceptance, in December 2011. These confirmed

EDF/Areva’s EPR™ reactor design (image courtesy of Areva)


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radiological hazard. Our inspectors carried out regular inspections throughout the process, from design and commissioning to destruction, witnessing the removal of the first and last batches of liquid metal. They will now ensure that the next phase of the project is managed safely, minimising any risk.

Agreement to commence the >first stage of construction of a new Tails Management Facility at Urenco UK Capenhurst. The new facility will convert the uranium hexafluoride ‘Hex Tails’ to a form of uranium oxide, for long-term site storage based on passively safe principles. Our inspectors will ensure safety and security is paramount in all considerations.

Assessment of the alignment of >decommissioning programmes for all Magnox sites to the Magnox Optimised Decommissioning Programme, which includes changes to strategies and key milestones to integrate the delivery of hazard reduction and decommissioning across all sites. Development of the approach to regulate an

The Decommissioning, Fuel & Waste (DFW) programme was created part way through ONR’s first year with the objective of providing a strategic regulatory approach and greater focus to the significant challenges presented within this sector.

We have had a challenging first year and in addition to addressing the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident across all 16 nuclear licensed sites in the programme, some of the key safety driven achievements include:

The removal and destruction of >liquid metal coolant at Dounreay, which was a major chemical and

The Decom-missioning, Fuel and Waste (DFW) programme

regulates safety on a variety of nuclear fuel sites, including fuel cycle, nuclear research, waste management and decommissioning sites. David Senior, Director of the DFW programme reflects on the first year of the programme.

Programme Overview – David Senior

Decommissioning, Fuel and Waste

Illustration of geological disposal


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specialist and technical input to key international meetings. A significant achievement for the programme was the completion and submission to government of a UK report for the Joint Convention on the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management. This was presented, alongside 63 other contracting parties to the recent IAEA hosted fourth review meeting in Vienna.

This is only a snap shot of DFW programme work strands and achievements over the past year, which we will continue to build on. In the coming year, we will agree and publish a formal programme strategy, outlining key priorities and objectives for the programme.

radioactive waste and nuclear fuels/materials. A key part of this is implementation of the Government’s policy on Managing Radioactive Waste Safely, which is vital to progressing decommissioning and waste management activities across the programme. This year, in joint working with the Environment Agency, we have worked with government and other key stakeholders, including interested communities, providing advice and guidance on nuclear safety, security and transport matters and attending public meetings in respect of a proposed Geological Disposal Facility.

We have also continued our work in the international arena, providing

anticipated 80 year interim ‘Care & Maintenance’ condition for the Magnox reactor sites.

Integrated regulatory approach >(nuclear safety, security, transport & safeguards) towards the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) work in developing a preferred option, compliant with current UK and Scottish Government policies, for dealing with the remaining nuclear fuel cycle materials at Dounreay.

Development of a Low Risk Low >Hazard regulatory methodology that has been deployed on a pilot basis from the start of the new planning year to a number of sites across the DFW programme. The effectiveness of the new methodology will be reviewed (Sept 2012) after which consideration will be given to its wider application across the programme.

One of our key priorities is to engage with relevant stakeholders including government and the NDA to develop strategies and policy relating to decommissioning, managing

Trawsfynnyd Nuclear Licensed Site, photo courtesy of Magnox Limited


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Sellafield Directors. We believe that this restructuring has enhanced our effectiveness in regulating the site in a consistent, proportionate and joined-up way, enabling greater integration of safety and security regulation of the site.

With such a large and complex site ONR has, of course, been undertaking a large range of regulatory activities. Below I highlight just some of the more significant activities from 2011/12. More detail is available in our quarterly site reports and through ONR’s Quarterly News publication.

We continue to put significant focus on remediation of the high hazard legacy facilities. The licensee is now starting to make significant progress in this area, and some notable risk reduction measures were completed this year. For example, SL successfully secured the primary containment at one of the bays in a legacy pond, and ONR granted permission to export legacy fuel from another pond, the first time this had been done in decades.

ONR has always recognised the particular focus required to regulate Sellafield, as a large and complex site with significant hazards, and to support this, ONR created the Sellafield Programme as a key operational programme early in its first year.

It is our intention that all ONR’s activities relating to Sellafield are covered in the programme, thereby ensuring joined-up regulation of nuclear safety, security, safeguards, transport and conventional safety. We have made good progress in that direction, revising our programme structures so that they are now aligned with the licensee Sellafield Ltd’s (SL) four operational directorates, with lead inspectors interfacing directly with the relevant Operational Director on site. In addition, there are several key areas where we judge improvements are required across the site. To address these areas we have set up four “theme groups” covering leadership and management, safe operations, engineering and safety cases. Similarly, these have lead inspectors who liaise directly with nominated

The Sellafield programme regulates Sellafield and Windscale

nuclear licensed sites in Cumbria. Mark Bassett, Director of the Sellafield programme provides an overview of the progress and achievements of the programme in 2011/12.

Programme overview – Mark Bassett

Sellafield programme

http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/2012/wcssg1.htm

http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/onr-quarterly-report.htm



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improvements in these areas by the end of the next operational year.

Earlier in the year, ONR revised the legal specification on the Highly Active Liquor (HAL) stocks at Sellafield. This modification was required to ensure that stocks continued to be reduced as low as reasonably practicable while allowing continuing hazard reduction on the site. This decision received stakeholder interest and, as part of ONR’s drive for greater openness and transparency, we placed our internal assessment reports setting out our thinking and judgements on our website. In the coming year, we will move to publishing all of our project assessment reports, supporting regulatory decisions onto the website.

the older facilities are not as robust as newer facilities which have been built to modern standards. Therefore the focus for these plant facilities remains the retrieval of the inventory of these facilities and processing the material into safer forms.

We have also maintained strong regulatory interest in SL’ integrated change programme. This change programme is essential to improving both safety performance and accelerating remediation. This year we have been particularly concentrating on leadership and management for safety, periodic safety reviews, and internal regulation. We have set out expectations for SL to deliver clear

But there is much more work to do to remediate these facilities over the coming years, and we are pleased that that there is continuing interest shown by government, enabling appropriate resources to be made available for this important work. Last year we reviewed our regulatory strategy in this area. As a result, we now use powers under the licence to ensure that SL sets key decommissioning milestones against which we can monitor and regulate progress of risk and hazard reduction on site. This approach provides us with sufficient oversight and control, while providing a degree of flexibility to the remediation programme.

As with the rest of the nuclear industry SL has had to address matters arising from the Fukushima accident. SL has responded to the Chief Inspector’s report, and his further requirement to undertake “stress tests”, by developing its Resilience Evaluation Process, which it has applied to the major facilities across the Sellafield site. ONR is now assessing the number of improvements and contingencies identified by SL. However, some of

Image courtesy of Sellafield Ltd

http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/index.htm


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In all of these areas, we have worked with licensees to ensure that hazards have been adequately controlled, seeking further improvements wherever necessary.

Our deep slice leadership and management for safety interventions across the Ministry of Defence (MOD)

The Defence programme’s inspection and key intervention strategy milestones over the last year were delivered within target timescales, though a number of licensees’ activities were delayed, and this had some repercussions on our planned assessment and permissioning for the year. However, we developed and implemented contingency plans to manage these changes.

Our priorities over the last year have included:

Reactive permissioning for >submarine berthing at Devonport Royal Dockyard in response to emergent safety issues.

Agreement to the second pre- >construction safety case for the ‘Mensa’ facility at Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Burghfield.

Authorisation for the restart of the >nuclear chemical plant operations at Rolls-Royce in Derby.

Completion of a range of >post-Fukushima work in close collaboration with DNSR.

The Defence programme regulates safety at defence sector

nuclear sites, including submarine and atomic weapons facilities, working closely with the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR). Derek Lacey, Director of the Defence programme until 31 March 2012, looks back on our first year as ONR.

Programme overview – Derek Lacey

Defence

Image courtesy of HM Naval Base Clyde


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in 2010/11 were the trigger for a series of ongoing discussions with defence licensees’ directors and senior executives over the year. These were constructive exchanges, and have informed our interventions for 2012/13, to support and advise licensed sites to enable them to act on the findings.

The year also saw a significant first as HSE’s Hazardous Installations Directorate (HID) joined us, the Environment Agency and DNSR for the AWE’s annual review of safety. This was the first such review involving HID and attendees included HSE’s Chief Inspector of Explosives and the Head of Specialised Industries. This has further improved the coherence in our regulation.

This has been a demanding year during which we have seen many significant changes to our strategic priorities, but through the professionalism and commitment of our inspectors and business support staff, we have successfully delivered and made improvements to the way in which we operate.



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This National Objectives, Requirements and Model Standards document, due to be published later this year, is a key part of our evolution as a regulator. It sets out security objectives for the industry as a whole, which will be the subject of ongoing security reviews. These reviews require the industry to propose plans to meet security objectives for existing sites, and align with the security outcomes that industry must achieve for new build activities.

The establishment of the ONR as an agency of HSE in April 2011 brought together the respective disciplines of safety, security, safeguards and nuclear transport safety under one regulator. The past year has seen the continuing integration of these disciplines, with increasing collaboration, as evidenced by the review of our technical security guidance to industry, which promotes a goal setting, outcome based approach to security regulation.

The Civil Nuclear Security (CNS) programme regulates

security in the UK’s civil nuclear industry in order to prevent the theft or sabotage of nuclear material and/or the sabotage of nuclear facilities. Adrian Freer, Director of the CNS programme reflects on the key events and achievements from the year.

Programme overview – Adrian Freer

Civil Nuclear Security

Police officer from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary at a nuclear site


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Protection of National Infrastructure, Communications-Electronics Security Group and the MOD.

In line with the drive for continuous improvement across the industry, and in part as a result of ONR’s review of security at Sellafield and Dounreay, security enhancement programmes are currently underway at both sites. Many of the resulting improvements will be visible, for example, upgrades to existing security fences and hostile vehicle mitigation measures. Others, like improvement to cyber security arrangements, will not be as apparent.

Another highlight came in October 2011, with an International Physical Protection Advisory Service mission, led by the IAEA, to assess the UK’s legal and regulatory infrastructure. This was the first such mission to a nuclear weapons state. The team visited Sellafield, the UK’s reprocessing and storage facility, and Barrow port, used for the transport of civil nuclear material, and commented favourably on the UK’s adherence to IAEA security best practice.

across all of its disciplines. This work is ongoing.

Comprehensive security reviews have taken place at EDF and Magnox sites over the year. The reviews of security across the civil nuclear industry began in 2010 with reviews at Sellafield and Dounreay, and cover all facets of protective, personnel and information security. They are subject to external input by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, the Centre for the

Our regulatory work is also currently subject to a broader integrated change programme, which aims to harmonise in particular, safety and security regulation through both industry and the regulator, and includes close collaboration with the Safety Directors’ Forum.

These developments in our approach highlight the continuing need for ONR to reinforce the staff resources of the CNS programme

A police officer from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary patrols a nuclear licensed site


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types, permissioning their use, and inspecting operational aspects of radioactive material transport to and from licensed nuclear sites and all other non-nuclear industry sectors that transport radioactive material. We do this in line with national legislation based on international regulatory requirements.

To accommodate the different aspects of our work, my team is divided into four branches: engineering, quality assurance/compliance and

In October 2012, my team of radioactive materials transport inspectors finalised their transfer to ONR, creating a more integrated nuclear regulator.

Formerly part of DfT, we regulate the safety of radioactive material transported by road and rail in Great Britain. We also advise on the regulation of transport by sea and air within the United Kingdom. Our work involves assessing prescribed transport package

The Radioactive Materials Transport (RMT) programme regulates

safety during the transport of radioactive material by road and rail in Great Britain, and advises on its transport by air and sea within UK territorial waters. George Sallit, head of RMT, explains that this year has been one of great change and opportunity for his team.

Programme overview – George Sallit

Radioactive Materials Transport

Flask in transit


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Glossaryand authoritative advice and effective regulation and enforcement for the transport of radioactive material.

power generation, decommissioning and waste transport or the nuclear fuel cycle.

We continue to influence European and international discussions and negotiations with active support of the IAEA and European Association of Competent Authorities. An example of our involvement in the international arena is the team’s suggestion to revise the Paris/Brussels Convention for the transport of nuclear material to introduce a lower level of liability for low hazard packages. This idea is likely to be implemented in the UK and possibly other EU member states.

Closer to home, we also held a stakeholder meeting in 2012 to provide an update on our move to ONR, the new regulations introduced on 24 October 2011 and the new IAEA regulations that will be introduced into the UK in two to three years.

My team and I look forward to a bright future as part of the ONR. Our transfer enables us to face the challenges ahead and continue to provide our stakeholders with timely

enforcement (nuclear), criticality and radiological protection and quality assurance/ compliance (non-nuclear). My team of 14 inspectors deal with approximately 4,000 duty-holders in England, Scotland and Wales, many of whom are from non-nuclear sectors.

Since joining ONR, our overall programme is on target for transport interventions, nuclear interventions and package assessments. This involves inspecting transport activities, as well as assessing and granting permissions for the use of transport package types. The nuclear and non-nuclear parts of the programme continue to deliver targeted inspections; the non-nuclear team have delivered 45 planned inspections this year, targeting efforts at the medical profession, while the nuclear team completed nine major interventions during 2011/12.

Each month, the team receive package applications for assessment and permissioning: 87 in total this year. The nuclear sector has dominated this area recently with applications for nuclear

Photo courtesy of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority


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convergence and harmonisation in our approach to the regulation of nuclear safety and security.

Our strive for improved openness and transparency will continue across ONR and we hope to further improve our engagement with stakeholders through a programme of key events, and make more of our regulatory decisions and interactions with licensees publicly available. In doing this, we hope to demonstrate that our regulatory decisions are balanced, consistent, transparent, substantiated and evidence-based, and that ONR is operating effectively and efficiently.

This year, we will continue to be in the middle of an ambitious and exciting process of development, which we hope will create a stronger and, even more effective and efficient organisation that is better equipped to deliver its core activities and achieve our mission to:

Secure the protection of people and society from the hazards of the nuclear industry

We will review our Strategy and Corporate Plan regularly and make appropriate adjustments in response to key issues and developments. We will also continue to work through our programme to complete the transition of status to statutory corporation, in readiness for the necessary legislation of the Energy Bill, and hope that this time next year; we will be even closer to achieving the government’s intention.

Our key responsibility to effectively regulate the UK nuclear industry will continue to be our priority in the coming year, and we will continue our robust programme of inspection across all nuclear licensed installations and relevant transport, providing influence and enforcement where necessary. In addition, we will continue to provide advice and guidance to government and other stakeholders on those issues that do not fall under current licence arrangements, including new build and geological disposal. We will also continue to work closely with UK and international regulators and other bodies to achieve co-operation,

Looking forward, 2012/13 will be our first year of operation as a single, integrated nuclear regulator. We know that this year will be one of continuing internal change and improvement as we continue to develop internal processes and implement our new organisational design. We also appreciate that there will be many external challenges ahead, including the potential developments relating to new build power stations, delivery of the decommissioning programme and management of legacy nuclear plants.



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Read ONR’s Quarterly News … which provides regular reports on progress at the end of each quarter. You can view the latest and previous editions here.

Contact us…If you have a general enquiry, you can email [email protected] or by post to Office for Nuclear Regulation, 4S.3 Redgrave Court, Merton Road, Bootle, L20 7HS. You can also follow ONR on Twitter @ONRpressoffice.

Visit the ONR website … The website provides the latest news and updates from ONR, together with information about our people, the sites that we regulate and the work that we do, as well as providing access to key guidance and resources.

Sign up for our monthly e-bulletin … which provides regular updates of news and information from ONR straight to your desktop. You can sign up for free here.

If you are interested in our work, and our developments as an organisation, there are several ways that you can keep up to date with ONR.


Cover Introduction Corporate update Q3 at a glance Programme updates Spotlight: Transport Spotlight: i-DAC Looking ahead

October – December 2011Quarterly News

January – March 2012Quarterly News

Cover Introduction Corporate update Q4 at a glance Programme updates Spotlight OneSpotlight Two Looking ahead


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AWE Atomic Weapons Establishment

CNRP Civil Nuclear Reactor ProgrammeCNS Civil Nuclear Security

DECC Department of Energy and Climate ChangeDfT Department for TransportDFW Decommissioning, Fuel and WasteDNSR Defence Nuclear Safety RegulatorDWP Department for Work and Pensions

GDA Generic Design Assessment

HID HSE Hazardous Installations InspectorateHSE Health & Safety Executive

IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency

MOD Ministry of Defence

NDA Nuclear Decommissioning AuthorityNEPLG Nuclear Emergency Planning Liaison GroupNGO Non-Government organisationNNB Genco Nuclear New Build Generation Company

ONR Office for Nuclear Regulation

SL Sellafield Limited

REPPIR Radiation (Emergency preparedness and public information) regulations 2001

RMT Radioactive Materials Transport

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Find out more about us

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Documents

Civil Nuclear Reactors Generic Design Assessment … · 2018. 11. 14. · Progress and Achievements Programme overview Civil Nuclear Reactors Generic Design Assessment Decommissioning,