The Sellafield programme, headed by Deputy Chief Inspector Mark Bassett is responsible for regulating the Sellafield and Windscale nuclear licensed sites in Cumbria.
The programme is divided into four sub-programmes: Spent fuel management; decommissioning; infrastructure and waste and effluents disposition.
This structure reflects the delivery directorate structure within the licensee's own organisation, which brings benefits in terms of accountability, and alignment of improvement programmes and associated milestones. The groups ensure timely delivery of compliance inspection activities, interventions and assessment of safety case submissions.
One of the main priorities for the programme is the timely remediation of the legacy ponds and silos facilities on the site; seeking to ensure that the licensee meets and, where practicable, exceeds the hazard and risk reduction programmes set out in its Life Time Plan Performance Plan 2011. The continued safe operation of the high level waste plants and its ability to continue to successfully condition highly active liquor into a passive, safe, vitrified state also remains a prime focus. The programme is also involved in assessing Sellafield Ltd's stress test submissions for non-power generating nuclear facilities, as part of the UK's post Fukushima response.
ONR is working towards integrating all its regulatory activities relating to Sellafield within this programme, and now includes security, transport and safeguards interventions.
In addition, the programme is taking forward a number of key interventions brigaded under specific themes. The current themes where regulatory effort is focused are leadership and management; safety cases; engineering and operational safety.
These areas have been identified as a result of the assimilation of previous inspections findings, events on site, quality of safety case submissions and licensees operational performance.ONR's aim is to achieve sustained improvements in performance in these areas across the Sellafield and Windscale sites over the next few years.