Executive summary
Date(s) of inspection: November 2024
Aim of inspection
In accordance with the Office for Nuclear Regulation’s (ONR’s) Sellafield Strategy, each year ONR performs a series of planned inspections to seek assurance of compliance against selected licence conditions, targeted at those facilities with significant importance to nuclear safety. One such inspection was undertaken at Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) facilities North and South within the Sellafield site in West Cumbria to sample evidence of implementation of Sellafield Limited's arrangements for compliance with Licence Condition (LC) 36 (Organisational capability) in order to inform a regulatory judgement regarding the licensee’s compliance with its legal duties under the nuclear site licence.
Subject(s) of inspection
- LC36 - Organisational capability - Rating: Green
Key findings, inspector's opinions and reasons for judgement made
The inspection was undertaken on 6 November 2024 by the SNM site inspector and a human and organisational capability specialist inspector. The inspection targeted compliance against Licence Condition (LC) 36 (Organisational capability).
The inspection involved a planning phase and a site visit, which included discussions with relevant Sellafield Limited personnel, review of records, and sampling of information contained within electronic databases and other documentation.
Based on the evidence sampled, I concluded the following:
No significant matters were identified that required immediate regulatory attention.
Sellafield Limited demonstrated that it has an adequate understanding of its nuclear baseline, which it is actively managed to accommodate both recent and future anticipated changes to its business and with an appropriate level of governance and oversight.
Sellafield Limited has also adequately implemented its corporate arrangements for Management of Change.
I identified a minor anomaly with the production and endorsement of the documented Minimum Safe Manning Level (MSML) for SNM North and I raised a Level 4 Regulatory Issue to address this minor anomaly.
Conclusion
On the basis of evidence sampled and the interactions that I held with Sellafield Limited staff, at the time of the inspection, I judge that, on balance, Sellafield Limited has largely implemented its arrangements for compliance with LC 36. Upon consideration of the ONR guidance on inspection ratings, I judge that a rating of green (no formal action) is appropriate.
I have identified one minor shortfall and I have raised one Level 4 (lowest level) Regulatory Issues to track resolution of this shortfall.