Date released
18 July 2024
Request number
202405016
Release of information under
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
Information requested
I would like to request digital copies of the following documents that are not available on the ONR website:
ONR-CNRP-AR-15-002 - ONR Assessment Criticality
ONR-CNRP-AR-14-124 - ONR Assessment Report Fuel and Core Component
ONR-SZB-IR-15-047 - ONR Intervention Record
ONR-SZB-IR-15-054 - ONR Intervention Record
ONR-CNRP-AR-14-121 - ONR Assessment Radioactive Waste Management and Decommissioning
ONR-SZB-IR-15-112 - ONR Intervention Record
Information released
We confirm that under s.1 of the FOIA, we hold the six documents specified in your request.
The following three documents were released in our earlier response dated 20 June
2024:
In our previous correspondence to you, dated 20 June 2024, we set out that we were considering the public interest test in relation to the following exemption of the FOIA for the remaining three documents in your request:
- Section 43; Commercial interests
S.43(1) provides an exemption from disclosure for information which is a trade secret, and s.43(2) exempts information whose disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it), both of which we believe apply to the information being requested.
The FOIA does not define the term ‘trade secret’. However, with reference to The Trade Secrets (Enforcement, etc.) Regulations 2018, the Commissioner considers that, to be a trade secret, information should:
- be secret, in the sense that it is not generally known among, or readily accessible to, people within the circles that normally deal with that kind of information;
- have a commercial value, because it is secret. Its disclosure should also be liable to cause real (or significant) harm to the owner or be advantageous to any rivals; and
- be subject to reasonable steps under the circumstances, taken by the owner, to keep it secret.
Information pertaining to ‘trade secrets’ can be categorised into two groups; technical secrets (such an invention, manufacturing process, or engineering/design drawings) and business secrets (costing or pricing information, supplier lists and contact details, or plans for the development of new products).
We consider that the information contained within the requested reports clearly meets the above criteria for being a trade secret and/or in any event information whose disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice commercial interests.
Since our earlier response to you, we have identified that the following exemption also applies to your request:
- Section 24; Safeguarding national security
Section 24 sets out the exemption from the right to know where the information requested is required for the purposes of safeguarding national security. It works to protect national security, which includes protection of potential targets. It allows a public authority not to disclose information if it considers releasing the information would make the UK or its citizens more vulnerable to a national security threat.
However, as s.43 is a qualified exemption, we are required to balance the public interest between disclosure and non-disclosure. We have therefore applied the Public Interest Test and have set out factors for and against disclosure below.
Section 40 FOIA – Personal information
We have removed some information from the attached document as it is personal data. This consists of names, job titles, and signatures. Release of each of this type of information could identify the individual either directly or indirectly. The personal data has been withheld using the exemption s.40(2) of the FOIA.
Release of the information would breach principle (a) of GDPR (lawfulness, fairness and transparency) on the grounds that there is no lawful basis to process this data. In addition, releasing this personal data would also breach principle (b) of GDPR (purpose limitation) as the data was provided for the purposes of internal report authorship and circulation.
We note that some of the documents enclosed contain security markings such as ‘official sensitive’, however have been deemed appropriate to release in response to your request. As such, the security status on the documents become null and void once released under the FOIA.
Exemptions applied
s.24, s.40, s.43
PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable
Factors for disclosure (Sections 24 and 43)
- ONR is committed to being an open and transparent regulator. We will use openness and transparency to achieve our objective of developing and maintaining stakeholder trust in ONR as an effective independent regulator;
- The public have a vested interest in issues related to the nuclear industry, facilitating accountability and transparency; and,
- Issues related to the nuclear industry are subject to close scrutiny and debate, therefore there is a public interest in information related to nuclear activities and the release of such information.
Factors against disclosure (Section 24 – Safeguarding national security):
- Information that relates to the purposes of safeguarding national security and which may be of use to terrorists and other hostile actors is exempt from disclosure. Disclosure of Sensitive Nuclear Information (SNI) relating to detailed descriptions of fault scenarios within the design basis would disclose vulnerabilities that could provide an adversary with information that enables them to develop intelligence which may help in the planning of malicious attacks;
- Disclosure of SNI relating to fuel integrity limits for a large number of normal and fault conditions, including calculated Keff values which are close to critical, would also not be in the public interest. Releasing this information into the public domain may assist hostile or malicious actors assist in carrying out threats or attacks against ONR’s dutyholders and the nuclear industry;
- Paragraph 13 of Section 24(1) makes it clear that there need be no evidence that an attack is imminent for this exemption to be applied;
- Adversaries or hostile actors can be highly motivated and may go to great lengths to gather separate pieces of intelligence to attempt to expose vulnerabilities.
Conclusion
After careful consideration of the factors set out above, we have concluded that the specific information relating to SNI should be withheld. There is a strong public interest in safeguarding national security. The interests of national security should be given significant weight in the above factors against disclosure and outweigh the need for openness in terms of these specific types of information.
Factors against disclosure (Section 43 – trade secrets and prejudice to commercial interests)
- The commercial nuclear industry is highly competitive. The requested reports contain information about the design of third-party dry fuel store (DFS) equipment, designed by Holtec International. These include detailed descriptions of Holtec’s International’s proprietary techniques, material compositions, and design. Disclosure of this information would therefore enable Holtec’s competitors to gain knowledge of Holtec’s technical trade secrets and thus prejudice its commercial interests by distorting the specialist competitive market.
Conclusion
After careful consideration of the s.24 and s43 FOIA factors set out above, we have decided that the factors for non-disclosure, both in regards to the interests of the public as well as those of the commercial entity, outweigh the reasons for disclosure of the reports titled ONR-CNRP-AR-14-124 and ONR-CNRP-AR-15-002.
It is well known that a release under the FOIA is considered to be a ‘release to the world at large’. As these reports contain SNI relating to fault scenarios and fuel integrity, as well as clear trade secrets relating to proprietary techniques, materials and designs, we judge that they should be accorded a high level of secrecy. It is considered that such an unrestricted release of the report would be likely to cause prejudice to the commercial interests of third parties, by revealing otherwise unknown commercial secrets.
However, we have considered that the report, ONR-CNRP-AR-14-121, which does not contain SNI, should have lesser weight placed on its commercial sensitivity. This is due to the information relating to the radiological waste management assessment of the DFS design being a summary, rather than containing prolonged and significant detail that would be likely to cause prejudice to the commercial interests of Holtec International. We therefore find that the factors for disclosure outweigh the factors for withholding the information, and are therefore releasing this report.