Investigation - Stage 2: Decide whether to investigate - Additional Guidance
NSD-specific incident selection criteria
All events reported as INES1 and above, and those meeting Ministerial reporting criteria:
- will be subject to a preliminary investigation by NSD
- that involves action by an inspector at a site visit
- with the outcome recorded in the visit report
All incidents (INES or otherwise) where it is immediately evident, or where initial enquiries, or a preliminary investigation of the incident reveal that:
- there appears to be a significant challenge, or potential significant challenge, to nuclear safety
- it appears there was, or could have been, a significant breach of nuclear site licence conditions or other relevant statutory provisions
- there has been, or there was potential for, a release of radioactivity that was above or approaching the statutory reporting limits, or a dose to an individual above the dose limit
- the licensee has acted knowingly in not taking conservative action
- there have been a number of incidents that have the same apparent cause
will be the subject of a more formal investigation by NSD and a specific investigation report will be produced.
An investigation report may also be produced for those incidents that have been investigated as a result of political or public concern that do not fall within the above criteria.