- Site: Dungeness B
- IR number: 21-152
- Date: February 2022
- LC numbers: 7, 17
Executive summary
Purpose of Intervention
This was a planned inspection at Dungeness B Power Station, operated by EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Limited, in accordance with ONR’s Intervention Plan for the site. This intervention in particular was also designed to inform consideration of the ONR regulatory attention level for the station.
Interventions Carried Out by ONR
I, (the recovery site inspector) and the nominated site inspector, with a team of specialist ONR inspectors and experienced EDF staff from Dungeness B and elsewhere in the fleet carried out an extensive intervention to examine the current safety culture at the station. The intervention followed the method set out in ONR Guidance Document TD-HOC-GD-001 Examining Culture in Organisations: Guidance on Using Qualitative Methods in Organisational Research, which is available on the ONR website.
The nominated site inspector also undertook some intelligence gathering interactions with station management.
Key Findings, Inspector's Opinions and Reasons for Judgements Made
The intervention examined the following aspects of life at the station:
- Safety leadership
- Personal accountability for safety
- Governance and oversight of safety
- Organisational learning
The intervention comprised observations and interviews with a large and representative sample of the station’s population, including over 200 people. For each of the four aspects above the intervention team found good standards and evidence of significant progress in recent years.
Conclusion of Intervention
The intervention concluded with a presentation to the station’s management team on our findings. This included a number of recommendations for consideration but no new formal actions or regulatory issues.
I rated the inspection ‘Green – no formal action’ for Licence Conditions 7 – incidents at the station, and 17 – management systems, based on the evidence gathered.