The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has published an updated version of its licensing nuclear installations (LNI) guidance.
LNI describes how we regulate the design, construction and operation of any nuclear installation in Great Britain for which a nuclear site licence is required under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965.
The first edition of the guidance was published in 2012, in anticipation of future new build projects, and is widely regarded throughout the nuclear industry as a primary source of guidance for applicants, regulators and BEIS.
This latest version of LNI is the sixth edition, and was required to reflect changes in legislation and developments in the nuclear industry over the last two years.
The publication is structured the same as previous editions. However, section one has been streamlined to only cover legislation relevant to nuclear site licensing - material covered in other ONR publications has been omitted.
Key changes and new material in the updated guidance includes the following:
- Small modular reactors / advanced nuclear technologies - a new annex about this subject;
- Nuclear Safeguards - ONR has become the UK regulator since the previous edition was published;
- Security Assessment Principles - licensees’ security responsibilities are highlighted in this edition;
- The Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2019 - covered in greater detail than in previous editions;
- Changes to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority ownership model for its licensed sites;
- Updated details for the Generic Design Assessment process based on recent experience;
- Extra detail on site justification based on recent licence application assessments.