Welcome to the latest edition of ONR News, brought to you on the day our Chief Nuclear Inspector, Mark Foy, publishes his annual report covering the performance of Great Britain’s nuclear industry during 2020-21.
We hope Mark’s annual publication provides a thorough and accessible summary of our regulatory focus over the last year and how, despite the challenges COVID-19 presented, we’ve gained the evidence necessary to judge the safety, security and safeguards performance of the industry. Now in its third year, the report now features technical case studies and improved graphics to help better explain our work in delivering our mission to protect society.
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In this edition of ONR News, you’ll also find a round-up of recent regulatory activities and an invitation to share your views on the reference papers that inform our guidance on coastal flood and meteorological hazards at nuclear sites – topics which some of you have told us you’re keen to find out more about.
You said to us in our last stakeholder survey that a regular newsletter from ONR would be helpful. So over the coming months, we’ll be bringing this e-bulletin to your more often, to support our commitment to be more transparent and build more understanding of the work we do. Your feedback ensures we do that in a way that meets your needs. So we are always keen to hear your views on us, our communications, and how we can continue to improve the ways we engage with our stakeholders.
Please get in touch via contact@onr.gov.uk
Katie Day
Policy and Communications Director
The Chief Nuclear Inspector has today published his annual report detailing the performance of Great Britain’s nuclear industry during 2020/21.
Mark Foy reports that the industry has performed well overall and the required standards of safety, security and safeguards have been maintained.
Find out more on the report
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The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has served a formal ‘direction’ to EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Ltd requiring the company to reassess safety arrangements at Dungeness B Power Station.
A direction is formal enforcement action which allows us to direct a site operator (licensee) to take specific actions to address legal compliance shortfalls.
Find out more on this enforcement action
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Our Civil Nuclear Security and Safeguards team has been shortlisted for excellence in cyber security at the inaugural ‘OSPA’ awards.
ONR was selected as one of just four finalists in the Outstanding Cyber Security Partnership category for our work to benchmark information and cyber security arrangements across the sector’s supply chain.
Find out more about this award
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Comments invited on external hazards papers
We are inviting comments on our updated reference papers for Coastal Flood Hazards and Meteorological Hazards for Nuclear Sites. Although this goes beyond our normal governance process, we are doing this due to stakeholder interest in these topics and our commitment to openness and transparency. These reference papers are part of a suite of documents that assist our specialist inspectors when making their regulatory judgements.
To view the documents and provide comments, visit our webpage. The closing date is 8 November 2021.
Devonport complies with improvement notice
Devonport Royal Dockyard Ltd (DRDL) has now complied with an ONR improvement notice served in September 2020. Enforcement action was taken after it emerged that DRDL had failed to carry out scheduled maintenance tests on an effluent extraction system. Since then, we have worked closely with DRDL’s internal regulator – applying sustained regulatory scrutiny – and are now satisfied that the necessary actions have been taken to satisfy the requirements of the notice.
COVID-19 and our regulation
We continue to assess our on-site presence in line with government guidelines and our business needs, ensuring we have a balanced portfolio of on-site inspections and interventions. We are still holding virtual meetings wherever we sensibly can, and we consider dutyholders’ site attendance policies for their own staff when making our own decisions to attend a site. This is to ensure we balance protecting staff safety and wellbeing, and that of our dutyholders and surrounding site communities, with maintaining an effective regulatory footprint. We will continue to adjust our arrangements to keep people safe and ensure organisational resilience.
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