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Nuclear Safety Research

HSC Co-ordinated Programme of Nuclear Safety Research


Strategy

The programme is run under guidelines from the DBERR, which are included in the

Arrangements

Reactor Nuclear Research Index

Nuclear chemical plant research strategy

BNFL Sellafield research schedule

BNFL furnish HSE with information on their research addressing the requirements given in HSE's chemical plant research strategy. This is done in the format of a nuclear research schedule [645kb]pdf.

Development of HSC programme since 1989

Back in 1989, the Government made a number of changes in preparation for a privatised nuclear electricity industry. With the loss of the Department of Energy, DTI became responsible for nuclear safety research but chose to discharge this responsibility through the HSC/E. HSE established a new nuclear safety research unit in its research arm (RLSD) to direct and commission the UK's nuclear safety research on its power reactors. At the time the £25m programme placed with the UKAEA was split into two parts under HSC/E's direction;

Following the changes in 1989, HSE as a matter of policy increasingly exposed the Levy Programme to competition so as to achieve the best value for money. The result was that over the next few years a more diverse range of contractors were commissioned to take on specific tasks within the programme, although UKAEA, later to become AEA-T, still remained the largest supplier.

During 1994 responsibility for the programme within HSE transferred to its Nuclear Safety Directorate (ND). The inspectorate became more involved in identifying safety issues during the programme and taking forward technical issues with the licensees through technical working groups. The next significant change took place a year later when it was agreed that the licensees could gain a greater benefit from the programme if it were allowed to commission the research itself. Over the next two years about three-quarters of the programme was transferred to the licensees, in the form of the Industry Management Committee (IMC). HSE retained a Levy Programme which maintained international collaboration and sources of independent expertise, and gave the capacity to carry out research in the eventuality that the IMC declined to commission work which ND believed to be necessary.

This arrangement continued until March 2003, when the arrangements described above came into force.

HSE, through ND, retains direction of the programme and liaises and negotiates with the reactor licensees over the programme strategy and technical content. However, during these years of change, ND with the co-operation of the licensees has maintained a balanced and adequate programme of nuclear safety research which has addressed both strategic and technical drivers. Through the programme an adequate infrastructure of facilities and expertise continues to be maintained addressing needs of the industry and the regulator. Effective use is made through the programme of links internationally to other regulators (or Technical Support Organisations) into collaborative agreements through the OECD-Nuclear Energy Agency and to the EC Framework Programmes. These links have helped in keeping up with and contributing to developments on nuclear safety research throughout the world. For further information see the section on International activities.

During all this time the Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee has monitored the development of the programme and provided to the HSC advice on programme policy and the degree to which the programme continues to meet the objectives laid down by the DTI. Once a year the Chief Inspector has to provide the HSC with a report on the efficiency of the programme and to seek approval for the forthcoming year's programme.

So the programme has adapted considerably to the many changes taking place in the nuclear industry. The advantages gained by the licensees have been considerable as can be seen by the examples of research output being quoted in safety cases. The infrastructure has continued to be maintained and both the regulator and licensees continue to take advantage from the sources of expertise maintained through the programme.

HSC Co-ordinated Programme of Nuclear Safety Research 1990 - 2009

Spend (£m) (excluding Management Charges and VAT)

Programme Element Year
  90/91 91/92 92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99
Levy 15.0 10.3 9.6 11.0 5.4 2.0 1.6 1.9 1.5
IMC/Licensees(2) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 8.1 8.5 7.2 6.4
Levy+IMC/
Licensees
15.0 10.3 9.6 11.0 10.4 10.1 10.1 9.1 7.9
Industry Direct/
Non-NRI Reactor Research(3)
7.1 11.8 6.5 8.0 4.3 9.4 10.4 9.9 7.7
Total 22.1 22.1 16.1 19.0 14.7 19.5 20.5 19.0 15.6
Programme Element Year
  99/00 00/01 01/02 02/032 03/043 04/057 05/06 06/07
Levy 1.4 1.5 1.4 1.2 1.6 1.2 0.9 0.7
IMC/Licensees(2) 7.0 6.7 6.3 5.4 6.6 7.4 4.3 4.3
Levy+IMC/
Licensees
8.4 8.2 7.7 6.6 8.2 8.6 5.2 5.2
Industry Direct/
Non-NRI Reactor Research(3)
7.4 10.6 9.2 8.4 9.5 7.8 7.0 7.0
Total 15.8 18.8 16.9 15.0 17.7 16.4 12.2 12.2
Programme Element Year
  07/088 08/098
Levy 0.4 0.7
IMC/Licensees(2) 3.2 6.5
Levy+IMC/
Licensees
3.6 7.2
Industry Direct/
Non-NRI Reactor Research(3)
7.7 8.8
Total 11.3 16.0
  1. All figures are ex. VAT.
  2. The figures reported here the final outturn spend until 2002/03
  3. Planned spend from 2003/04.
  4. Before April 2003 individual licensee's programmes were combined in the Industry Management Committee (IMC) programme.
  5. Before April 2003 the non-NRI Research Programme was called the Industry Direct Programme.
  6. Spend on non-NRI related research previously reported to HSC for the years up to 2000/01 included ~£6.5M/year of BNFL chemical plant research.  This has now been excluded so that all data related to spend on reactor safety research.
  7. This is the programme value as defined at the start of 2004/05.
  8. Industry Direct figure includes Magnox Electric Contribution to NDA Funded Waste &Decommissioning Programme.

For more information on the development of the programme, contact Peter Storey (Nuclearresearchandsupport@hse.gsi.gov.uk, Director, Nuclear Safety Research Programme).
Updated October 2003

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Reactor HSE Levy programme

For more information on the programme, contact Nuclearresearchandsupport@hse.gsi.gov.uk

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Advice to research suppliers

The majority of the nuclear safety research programme is commissioned by the licensees. Currently, by voluntary agreement, the only parts of the programme that are commissioned by HSE are:

Therefore there are few opportunities for HSE to invite contractors to compete for nuclear safety research projects. There is more potential scope for contractors to compete for work in the Nuclear Safety Studies support programme. Contractors wishing to be considered for the support programme are advised to contract Nuclearresearchandsupport@hse.gsi.gov.uk who will forward enquiries to the appropriate division.

Levy reports

A list of levy reports from 1995 to the present is appended. For copies of levy reports contact Nuclearresearchandsupport@hse.gsi.gov.uk. They are not guaranteed to be freely available, as they may contain commercial information.
(updated Jan 2005)

  1. PLM Steel Components Index
  2. PLM Civil Engineering Index
  3. External Events Index
  4. Chemical Processes Index
  5. Nuclear Science Index
  6. Plant Modelling Index
  7. Fuel Index
  8. Graphite Index
  9. Human Factors Index
  10. Probabilistic Safety Analysis Index
  11. Control & Instrumentation Index
  12. Radiological Safety Index
  13. Waste & Decommissioning Index
  14. Nuclear Systems & Equip. Index
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