Date(s) of inspection
- December 2023
Aim of inspection
To demonstrate the adequacy of the emergency arrangements on the AWE Burghfield Site against the requirements of LC11 and the regulatory expectations provided within ONR’s guidance NS-INSP-GD-001.
Subject(s) of inspection
- LC11 – Emergency arrangements – Rating: Green
Key findings, inspector’s opinions and reasons for judgement made
AWE Burghfield conducted its Level 1 Safety Demonstration Exercise on 5 December 2023. The purpose of this intervention was for ONR to assess the demonstration against the requirements of LC11 and the regulatory expectations provided within ONR’s guidance NS-INSP-GD-001: This activity also forms part of delivering Key Regulatory Objective 5 of the ONR Weapons Sub-Division Strategy to “provide assurance to our stakeholders that hazardous activities on site are planned and conducted safely in accordance with the appropriate legislative requirements and that all risks have been reduced to as low as reasonably practicable”.
We observed the annual Level 1 Site Safety Demonstration Exercise on the AWE Burghfield Site, focusing on command and control at the scene and within the Emergency Operations Control Centre, casualty management and recovery, and health physics emergency management. Overall ONR considers that this was an adequate demonstration of AWE’s emergency arrangements against the requirements of LC11 and the relevant good practice provided within ONR’s guidance document NS-INSP-GD-011 on the Burghfield site.
Conclusion
Based on our observations at each of the locations attended, we consider that this was an adequate demonstration of AWE’s emergency arrangements against the requirements of LC11 and the relevant good practice provided within ONR’s guidance document NS-INSP-GD-011 on the Burghfield site. On this basis, we have awarded an inspection rating of green.