Executive summary
- Date(s) of inspection: January 2025
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 Value Stream (SNM) North facilities within the Sellafield site in West Cumbria to sample evidence of implementation of Sellafield Limited's arrangements for compliance with Licence Condition (LC) 24 (Operating instructions) and 28 (Examination, inspection, maintenance and testing) specifically to Magnox welded packages and overpacks 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
- LC24 - Operating instructions - Rating: Green
- LC28 - Examination, inspection, maintenance and testing - Rating: Green
Key findings, inspector's opinions and reasons for judgement made
The inspection was undertaken on 15 and 16 January 2025 by the SNM site inspector and a structural integrity specialist inspector. The inspection targeted compliance against Licence Condition (LC) 24 (Operating instructions) and LC28 (Examination, inspection, maintenance and testing) specifically to Magnox packages and overpacks at Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) North (N).
The inspection involved a planning phase and a site visit, which included discussions with relevant Sellafield Limited personnel, review of records, sampling of information contained within electronic databases and other documentation, and facility attendance to observe a task.
Based on the evidence sampled, I concluded the following:
No significant matters were identified that required immediate regulatory attention.
Sellafield Limited continues to implement improvements in response to Regulatory Issue 11185, which will aid further clarity and transparency in demonstrating compliance with the LC28 corporate arrangements.
Sellafield Limited has several Operating Instructions linked to the Clearance Certificates and are being used in the delivery of the package inspections.
Examination, inspection, maintenance and testing is been delivered to satisfy the LC28 requirements.
Two Level 4 (i.e. lowest level) regulatory issues raised to allow ONR to monitor progress in addressing the identified minor shortfalls in the following areas:
- The dutyholder to review and align the Engineering Schedule with the Clearance Certificate and the Plant Maintenance Schedule for package inspections and for all relevant facilities.
- The dutyholder to complete the backlog of inspections reports for Magnox packages and overpacks.
Some minor anomalies were also identified and regulatory advice was provided.
Conclusion
On the basis of the evidence sampled at the time of the inspection, I found that, on balance, SNM (N) is broadly compliant with the licensee’s corporate arrangements for LC24 and 28 specifically to Magnox packages and overpacks.
Taking all of the above into account, and noting the ONR guidance on inspection ratings, it is my opinion that, on balance, an inspection rating of GREEN (i.e. no formal action) for Licence Condition 24 and 28 is merited here.
I intend to raise two Level 4 (i.e. lowest level) regulatory issues to allow ONR to monitor progress in addressing the identified minor shortfalls.