Autumn is traditionally an extremely busy time at ONR and this year has proved no exception with our annual conference in October which was attended by almost 140 delegates for open and honest dialogues with industry stakeholders about the challenges and opportunities across the sector.
This followed hot on the heels of our published Chief Nuclear Inspector's Annual Report, scrutinising the performance of Britain’s nuclear industry, and containing within it, a case study to review the design evolution of the European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) at Hinkley Point C.
We commissioned this work, along with a fuller 27-page technical report, in light of a wider public debate around the role of regulation in the delivery of Britain’s nuclear ambitions and carried out the review in collaboration with EDF (NNB GenCo).
Our analysis shows that 82 high-level design changes were agreed with ONR when the UK EPR reactor was approved in 2012, leading to meaningful improvements to nuclear safety, although we accept that these led to further downstream modifications.
Elsewhere, two significant Parliamentary and international reports were recently published about ONR's and the UK nuclear industry's performance and progress; it was pleasing to read the Post Implementation Review follow-up conclusions, describing us as 'continuing to develop and mature as an organisation.'
Finally, we were pleased to demonstrate our enabling approach towards bulk cable-cutting decommissioning work at Oldbury power station in Gloucestershire, so a task was completed in two weekends which would have previously taken 12 months.
This two-way collaboration with Nuclear Restoration Services highlighted our willingness to consider new and innovative methods with dutyholders to secure significant efficiencies.
As always, if you have any comments about ONR, any of the topics included in this newsletter, or our work in general, please get in touch via contact@onr.gov.uk.
Best wishes
Rachel Grant Director of Strategy and Corporate Affairs |