NUCLEAR REGULATOR ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC PLAN

HSE press release E135:03 - 17 July 2003

The Health and Safety Executive has published its priorities for regulating nuclear safety over the next three years. The Strategic Plan for HSE's Nuclear Safety Directorate, (NSD), sets out the strategic goals and key business activities of Great Britain's independent nuclear safety regulator and the challenges of a changing nuclear industry.

Laurence Williams, HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations and Head of the HSE Nuclear Safety Directorate, unveiled the strategic plan, saying:

"We aim to secure effective control of health, safety and radioactive waste management at nuclear sites for the protection of the public and workers and to further public confidence in the nuclear regulatory system by being open about what we do.

"We seek to protect people from harm from the activities of the nuclear industry, by ensuring the industry operates safely, to agreed standards, securing improvements where necessary; ensuring the industry properly manages its radioactive waste; influencing standards of nuclear safety across the world; providing the Government with a centre of expertise on nuclear safety; regulating nuclear installations in an open and demonstrably fair manner so that the public can be informed about the regulatory regime; improving the way NSD works; and contributing to the wider health and safety system in the UK.

"We are facing significant changes in the industry, such as increasing commercialisation leading to further organisational and structural change, nuclear power plant closures putting more emphasis on decommissioning strategies; changes to the way in which the country's nuclear liabilities are funded and managed; the continued accumulation of radioactive wastes with no long term disposal solution identified; fewer young engineers and scientists joining the nuclear industry which may, in time, lead to a skills shortage for the industry and regulator alike, a continued need for openness and transparency and proactive explanation to stakeholders of how we undertake our regulatory activities; a need for the regulator to examine its effectiveness and continually improve so as to meet these challenges; the setting of specific, measurable targets for reductions in ill health and injury caused by work activities "

The document sets out the strategic goals of the NSD, which are to:

1. Ensure that licensees and others we regulate in Great Britain have no major nuclear accidents;

2. Ensure that those we regulate bring about a reduction in the hazard potential from radioactive wastes and to ensure the safe decommissioning of redundant nuclear facilities;

3. Ensure licensees protect workers and the public from ionising radiation and meet the targets set out in Revitalising Health and Safety;

4. Promote the maintenance of essential nuclear safety infrastructure in Great Britain.

5. Further public confidence in the UK nuclear regulatory system by providing information to our stakeholders, seeking their views and responding to them as appropriate

6. Ensure that HSE moves towards being a world class nuclear safety regulator.

7. Promote the improvement of international nuclear safety through the development and harmonisation of nuclear safety standards across the world.

The HSE Nuclear Safety Directorate Strategic Plan 2003-2006, is available on the Nuclear Safety Directorate website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/stratplan14.pdf

Notes to editors

1. Responsibility for ensuring the health and safety of workers and the public from nuclear installations lies with those who create the risks, the operators. It is their job to identify and assess risks and put in place measures to control them adequately, taking independent advice from nuclear safety committees and independent peer reviews.

2. Health and safety in the UK's nuclear industry, is subject to regulation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This aims to ensure that nuclear licensees are adequately protecting both the public and workers, and to ensure that radioactive waste is properly managed. In the main, HSE exercises regulation of nuclear sites through a licensing system. All Nuclear Installations as defined in the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended) require a licence from HSE and every activity, from design through to final decommissioning, must be undertaken in accordance with the conditions HSE attaches to the licence.

3. In seeking to ensure health and safety HSE, in the main, uses the provisions of: Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended); Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999; Nuclear Reactors (Environmental Impact Assessment for Decommissioning) Regulations 1999; Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001.

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