A report laid in Parliament shows how the UK’s nuclear regulator has delivered its mission to protect society by securing safe nuclear operations.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation’s (ONR) Annual Report and Accounts covering 2023/24 highlights the progress made towards the five ambitions set out in its Corporate Plan for 2023/24.
The report provides a summary of regulatory, organisational and financial performance, as well as governance information. It explains how ONR regulated effectively across its purposes and the nuclear lifecycle.
Organisational achievements include:
· commencing Step 1 on two GDAs - International’s SMR-300 in December 2023 and GE Hitachi’s BWRX300 reactor in January 2024.
· Developing and implementing a revised regulatory strategy for Devonport Royal Dockyard Ltd, supported by a Level 1 regulatory issue targeting improvements in the licensee’s leadership, organisational capability and decision making.
· signing a trilateral Memorandum of Cooperation between ONR, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to collaborate on the assessment of Small Modular Reactor and Advanced Modular Reactor designs.
· successfully delivering a modern website, sharing more information about who we are and what we do, supporting our commitment to being open and transparent.
· firmly embedding the Well-Informed Regulatory Decisions (WIReD) online platform (which simplifies how we communicate with the industry we regulate) as part of our modernisation programme.
· launching Chief Nuclear Inspector Themed Inspections around industry’s consideration of climate change.
· delivering a number of permissions key to Sellafield Ltd’s ongoing high hazard and risk reduction activities.
· delivering a ground breaking ‘sandboxing’ pilot project, exploring the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) within the nuclear industry.
· hosting a successful Annual Conference, providing a valuable opportunity for us to engage with a broad cross-section of industry stakeholders and to outline regulatory priorities for the year ahead.
Judith Hackitt, ONR’s interim Chair, said: “We remain confident that we are an effective regulator and organisation, highlighted by our influence nationally and internationally, and the insights provided by external feedback including the Government’s recently published Post Implementation Review follow up report.
“This year we have stepped up our commitment to be more efficient across our regulatory and corporate functions, capturing significant productivity improvements. This is now being aided by our development of multi-year high level budgets, to improve the quality of delivery plans and financial forecasts.
“Overall, it was a good year for us and, as a result we remain well positioned to deliver on our 2025 strategic commitments. Our thoughts will now turn to developing our strategy for beyond 2025.”
Mark Foy, ONR’s Chief Executive and Chief Nuclear Inspector, said: “Throughout the reporting period our regulation has been effective right across our purposes.
“We have particularly focused on enabling long-term improvements at sites in significantly enhanced or enhanced attention.
“Our teams have undertaken a huge amount of work across the nuclear sector. This has included progressing multiple GDA assessments to support government’s strategic ambitions for new nuclear. The signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation with the US NRC and the CNSC will enable greater collaboration and promote more efficient regulatory approvals of reactor designs.
“I am pleased that during the period we were able to determine the acceptability of safety justifications relating to the lifetime extension of reactors at Hartlepool and Heysham 1; launch the CNI themed inspection around industry’s consideration of climate change and deliver a ground breaking ‘sandboxing’ pilot project, exploring the application of artificial intelligence (AI) within the nuclear industry.”
The ONR Annual Report and Accounts was formally laid in Parliament today by the Department for Work and Pensions, ONR’s government sponsorship body.