It was laid in Parliament by the Department for Work and Pensions, our government sponsorship body, as a legal requirement of the Energy Act.
The plan sets out how ONR will implement effective, consistent and enabling regulation to influence proportionate improvements in the nuclear industry to protect worker and public safety.
And it emphasises ONR's continuing commitment to these goals as we stand ready to respond to the government's intentions for new nuclear as part of its Energy Security Strategy, announced in April.
The report details ONR's five 2022-23 ambitions, which it is intent on delivering:
They are:
- Influence timely and enduring improvements across the nuclear industry.
- Promote innovation through our regulation and our organisation, sustainability in our operations, and collaboration across our regulatory functions and corporate services.
- Increase openness and transparency across our work.
- Live all our values all the time, advocating equality, diversity and inclusion.
- Drive simplification and efficiency in our systems, practices and processes.
In line with ONR’s Strategy 2020-25, the next 12 months will see ONR particularly focus on the management of ageing nuclear facilities - with a forthcoming Chief Nuclear Inspector’s report on the topic - conventional health and safety performance, and effective leadership for safety and security - all regulatory priorities for this year.
And ONR will continue to modernise during the next 12 months with the implementation of its Well-Informed Regulatory Decisions (WIReD) project, digitising and automating manually intensive activities to allow better knowledge management and more effective and consistent navigation of regulatory processes.
Mark Foy, ONR’s Chief Executive and Chief Nuclear Inspector, said: “We are pleased to publish our annual Corporate Plan for 2022/23 which sets out how we will deliver our mission to protect society by securing safe nuclear operations.
"As ONR, like organisations worldwide, emerges and adjusts to the changes the pandemic has brought, we are maximising our efforts to evolve into an increasingly more efficient, modern and transparent regulator, delivering trusted outcomes and value.
"Ultimately, ONR strives to be exemplary and world-leading in its regulation, so we continue to build, retain and enhance public trust."