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Atomic Weapons Establishment Burghfield – Inspection ID: 52668

Executive summary

Date(s) of inspection

  • November 2023

Aim of inspection

This inspection at AWE 8F20 Facility will be undertaken as part of a programme of planned inspections for 2023/24.

The scope of the intervention was aligned to the ONR AWE Strategy.

The key aim of the inspection is for ONR to gain regulatory confidence that:

  1. The Commissioning arrangements used on the 8F20 facility are adequate
  2. The implementation of the Commissioning arrangements on 8F20 facility is adequate

Subject(s) of inspection

  • LC21 – Commissioning – Rating: Green

Key findings, inspector’s opinions and reasons for judgement made

This inspection at AWE 8F20 on the Burghfield Nuclear Licensed Site (BNLS) was undertaken as part of a programme of planned inspections for 2023/24. The scope of the intervention was aligned to the ONR’s AWE Strategy and was to judge the adequacy of AWE’s implementation of its arrangements made under LC 21 for the Sector 8 Hoist for the 8F20 Facility on the Burghfield Nuclear Licenced Site (BNLS).

I, the BNLS Site Inspector for the AWE Burghfield Nuclear Licence Site (BNLS), undertook a Licence Condition 21 (Commissioning) inspection of the sector 8 Hoist for the 8F20 Facility. The inspection focussed on seeking assurance that:

  1. The Commissioning arrangements used on the 8F20 facility are adequate;
  2. The implementation of the Commissioning arrangements on 8F20 facility is adequate.

The inspection comprised the examination of the LC21 arrangements, sampling of documentation and interviews with staff.

Based on the evidence sampled at the time of the intervention against AWE’s LC21 arrangements and ONR’s associated LC requirements and TIGs, ONR considers that AWE adequately demonstrated that:

Where appropriate, the commissioning is divided into stages;

  • There is adequate safety documentation to justify the safety of the commissioning;
  • Suitably qualified person or persons (SQEP) have been appointed for, controlling, witnessing, recording and assessing the results of any commissioning tests;
  • There are (or is the provision to make) adequate records to demonstrate compliance with LC21;
  • There are adequate arrangements to ensure that every commissioning document required, is retained.

Conclusion

Based on the evidence I sampled and the evidence provided by the AWE 8F20 Safety Case Manager and Principal Commissioning Lead, I considered that the licensee’s arrangements and their implementation across the areas inspected demonstrated adequate compliance against the requirements of LC21. Therefore, an assessment rating of green (no formal action required) is merited for this Licence Condition inspection. The 8F20 project team was able to demonstrate best practice in several areas particularly the Test and Commissioning Panel (T&CP), an example being the oversight and control for addressing all technical queries.

The 8F20 Safety Case Manager accepted my judgment at the wash up meeting.