Executive summary
Date(s) of inspection: July 2024
Aim of inspection
The inspection formed one of five site-based inspections undertaken as part of the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s (CNI) Themed Inspection on climate change.
The CNI Themed Inspection on climate change will seek assurance that the nuclear industry within Great Britain:
- Understands and has taken account of recent climate change projections in relevant safety cases and hazard definitions.
- Is able to demonstrate that activities are and will remain safe and secure in the future subject to the reasonably foreseeable effects of climate change.
- Has effective arrangements to monitor and review climate change information to determine if additional measures are needed to ensure that activities remain protected in the future.
The aim of the site-based inspections was to provide greater insight into how licensees are managing climate change effects and associated risks as well as identifying learning for both industry and ONR
Subject(s) of inspection
- Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Themed Inspection - Rating: Not rated
Key findings, inspector's opinions and reasons for judgement made
The inspection considered the licensee’s approach to climate change. This included sampling how the licensee incorporates climate change for specific external hazards; understanding how key structures, systems and components may be impacted by climate change; mitigation measures planned or implemented by the licensee; and future work.
This was a themed inspection to understand how the nuclear industry is managing climate change and to identify learning. It was not a licence condition compliance inspection and no ratings were provided against licence conditions. ONR formed an overarching judgement on whether its regulatory expectations in relation to climate change had: been met; been partially met and/or there are plans in place to ensure that they are met; or, not been met and there are no current plans in place to ensure that they are met.
Learning identified as part of this and the other site-based inspections will feed into the outputs of ONR’s CNI Themed Inspection on Climate Change and will be included within ONR’s final Summary Report; which will be published on ONR’s website.
Conclusion
Based on the evidence sampled, I judged that Sellafield partially meets ONR’s expectations in relation to climate change, with plans in place to ensure that they are met in future.
This judgement primarily considered relevant ONR Safety Assessment Principles, in addition to ONR’s External Hazards Technical Assessment Guide (NS-TAST-GD-013); the ONR, Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s ‘Use of UKCP18 Position Statement’; the ONR and Environment Agency’s ‘Principles for Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management’; and the ONR General Inspection Guide (ONR-INSP-GD-064).