Sellafield - Inspection ID: 52950

I undertook a Licence Condition 35 (Decommissioning) inspection at Sellafield Limited, with another inspector from Nuclear Liabilities Regulation, the corporate inspector and with the Environment Agency attending in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding and the Regulator's Code. The scope of the inspection was on the licensee's corporate arrangements for planning, prioritising and managing decommissioning to reduce hazards and risks on the site; the licensee has recently updated its site-level decommissioning programme, which sets out an order of decommissioning by priority, so the focus of the inspection was specifically on arrangements around this decommissioning programme.

 

I examined the licensee's arrangements for managing assets, proposals for changing cultural mindsets to those focussed on decommissioning, and the methodologies for establishing and maintaining the alpha and beta / gamma decommissioning programmes, which together constitutes the decommissioning programme. I examined how the licensee prioritises progress against each of these decommissioning programmes to manage and reduce site-level hazards and risks and found the governance to be adequate. I also examined proposals for how the licensee might better capture latest best estimates to reduce the existing disconnect between current facility-level plans and the site's lifetime plan. Where facility-level plans contain uncertainties, we have noted in past inspections that these are not always reflected in the lifetime plan, which is important because the lifetime plan links to interdependencies (other facilities, disposal routes etc) and for how long those might be available for. The licensee has identified this as an area for improvement and is developing arrangements to maintain a latest best estimates programme so that these can be used across the Value Stream consistently, and adopted into the lifetime plan as uncertainties in the estimates are removed.

 

Overall, I found the existing arrangements and the direction of travel for updating those arrangements (if enacted as described) to be adequate, realistic and in accordance with the requirements of LC35. I did not find any significant shortfalls. The proposals vary in maturity from those almost at the point of implementation in the management system to concepts being reviewed through existing governance routes; in my view supporting the licensee's proposals with Regulatory Issues would not be proportionate or provide additional benefit to the licensee. I consider an inspection rating of Green (no formal action) to be proportionate and appropriate.

Based on the areas sampled, the discussions held and the evidence presented I was satisfied that the Sellafield Ltd corporate arrangements are compliant with the relevant requirements of LC35. I consider an inspection rating of Green (no formal action) to be proportionate and appropriate. I noted one observation, which was accepted by the licensee, and raised no regulatory issues.