APPENDIX 7
Memorandum by the Health and Safety Executive
(HSE)
SUMMARY
1. HSE has worked closely with the Department
of Trade and Industry (DTI) since 2000 in the development of proposals
for the creation of the NDA. HSE has developed good relations
with the emergent NDA and will continue to work closely with the
NDA and the site management in driving forward decommissioning
and cleaning-up the UK's nuclear legacy.
2. HSE and DTI have worked closely and effectively
together to deal with any issues of concern as they have arisen.
One particular concern of HSE, and also the Health and Safety
Commission's (HSC) Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee, is that
there should be an initial period of stability to allow the new
arrangements to settle down, before competing the management of
any sites. The Secretary of State has responded, and HSE is reassured
that it will be appropriately consulted by the NDA on any proposals
for site competition.
THE REGULATORY
FRAMEWORK
3. HSC and HSE are statutory Non-Departmental
Public Bodies set up under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act
1974 (HSWA). The overall aim of both bodies is to ensure that
risks to people's health and safety from work activity (including
members of the public affected by those activities) are properly
controlled.
4. The HSC has overall responsibility for
making arrangements to secure the safety of those at work or affected
by workplace activity. The HSE is a separate body with statutory
responsibility for making adequate arrangements for the enforcement
of HSWA and related legislation, under guidance from HSC. The
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry is advised on nuclear
safety by HSC and is accountable to Parliament in respect of nuclear
safety at civil nuclear licensed sites. The Secretary of State
for Defence is similarly accountable to Parliament for safety
at defence related nuclear sites.
5. The regulation of the nuclear industry
is carried out predominantly under the Nuclear Installations Act
1965 (as amended). The licensing powers in the Nuclear Installations
Act were transferred to HSE in 1975 and are Relevant Statutory
Provisions of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
6. No person can carry out certain nuclear-related
activities that have been prescribed by the Secretary of State
for Trade and Industry under the Nuclear Installations Act, without
a licence from HSE. The licensing and enforcement of the nuclear
industry is delegated to Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Nuclear
Installations, who is also the Director of HSE's Nuclear Safety
Directorate.
7. The handling, treatment and storage of
radioactive waste on nuclear licensed sites are covered by the
nuclear licensing regime and are regulated in the same way as
nuclear safety. The day-to-day regulation of all nuclear licensed
sites is carried out by Her Majesty's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate
(NII), which is part of HSE's Nuclear Safety Directorate. HSE
works closely with the Environment Agencies (the Environment Agency
in England and Wales—the Scottish Environment Protection
Agency in Scotland), and the Office for Civil Nuclear Security,
to ensure a holistic regulatory approach to ensure the safety
of the public, the workers at nuclear sites and the protection
of the environment.
8. In view of DTI's dual role of industry
sponsor and safety accountability, HSE works closely with the
Department to ensure that health and safety and nuclear licensing
issues are given appropriate attention.
THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE
NDA—HSE'S INVOLVEMENT
9. In recognition of the key role of the
regulators in ensuring the success of the project, DTI sought
the involvement of HSE (along with the environment and security
regulators) in 2000, at the start of its development of proposals
for dealing with the nuclear legacy. HSE staff were involved in
early discussions on the roles and functions of the proposed NDA
(then called the Liabilities Management Authority—LMA).
The HSE team provided input and assistance to DTI in the development
of both the LMA White Paper and the subsequent Energy Bill.
10. HSE expressed broad support for the
proposals for the LMA/NDA, set out in the Government's July 2002
White Paper—Managing the Nuclear Legacy. The only
significant caveat was around the possible fragmentation of the
industry into a number of smaller "site licence companies".
While HSE had no objections to this, it pointed out that there
are onerous licensing requirements for high-hazard sites, and
that these might not easy for small, single-site licensees to
meet.
11. Subsequent to the publication of the
White Paper, in October 2002 HSE expanded its team to work with
DTI's newly set-up Liabilities Management Unit, in preparing the
way for the NDA. The team provided detailed advice on the development
of the implementing legislation in the Energy Bill, which became
law in July 2004.
12. Over the last 12 months HSE staff have
continued to work closely with DTI, other Departments and regulators
and, more recently, with the NDA on:
— restructuring BNFL including licensing
Springfields Fuels Ltd;
— relicensing BNFL magnox stations
to Magnox Electric;
— the development of initial site Management
and Operations contracts;
— developing tools for prioritisation
of work across the NDA sites;
— a generic Memorandum of Understanding
between the NDA and the regulators;
— the scope, structure and functions
of licensees' Long Term and Near Term Work Plans (LTWP, NTWP);
— the NDA's likely role in research
and where this fits with existing nuclear safety-related research
programmes; and
— DTI/NDA's extensive programme of
stakeholder engagement.
HSE'S FUTURE
COMMITMENT
13. Much of this work is geared towards
the start-up of the NDA on 1 April and will draw to an end then.
However, there will be a need for a considerable amount of ongoing
development work while the NDA programmes and methods of working
become established, and the interface with the regulators and
licensees becomes more routine. Additionally, as the NDA advances
decommissioning, HSE's NII will be closely involved in securing
appropriate attention to health, safety and radioactive waste
management standards. Over the next few months, in particular,
HSE will provide the NDA with information and advice on the development
of its first five-year Strategy.
14. Throughout the development of its proposals
for managing the nuclear legacy, HSE has given its full support
and commitment to the Government's aim of driving forward the
safe decommissioning, clean-up and restoration of redundant nuclear
licensed sites. This support and commitment will continue as the
NDA sets to work and puts the Government's aims into practice.
15. As an independent regulator, HSE's priority
is always to ensure that the NDA's mission is carried out with
due regard for the safety of both workers and the public, and
with appropriate attention to the principles of radioactive waste
management. During the development of the NDA, HSE expressed a
number of concerns on aspects of the emerging NDA where it was
felt that proposals brought risks of undermining the ability of
the licensees to maintain the highest level of nuclear safety.
The Health and Safety Commission have echoed a number of these
concerns to the Government. DTI has been generally very responsive
to HSE's concerns and appropriate changes have been made to legislation,
plans and procedures.
16. Nonetheless, the advent of the NDA will
bring with it major changes in the structure and management of
a large part of the UK's nuclear industry, and this, along with
new ways of working and a greater focus on value for money, has
the potential to divert licensees and contractors from their key
responsibilities for safety. HSE will be vigilant to this and
its inspectors will work closely with the licensees and the NDA
to ensure that where there are conflicting demands, these do not
lead to any diminution of health and safety.
17. An ongoing HSE concern, shared by HSC's
Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee (NuSAC), and expressed in a
letter to the Government from the HSC Chair last November, is
that there should be a "period of stability", following
the start-up of the NDA, to allow the new arrangements to settle
in. Both HSE and NuSAC have been concerned over the implications
of the NDA's PSA target for competing the management of its sites,
which is ambitious and appears to militate against the possibility
of a period of stability.
18. In response, the Secretary of State
for Trade and Industry stated that the incumbent site management
companies (British Nuclear Group, UKAEA and Westinghouse) would
be given at least two years in which to build a good track record
of delivery against contract, before the management of any of
their sites is put out to tender. HSE takes some comfort from
this statement and from the developing NDA working arrangements,
which should ensure that HSE (and the other nuclear regulators)
are consulted on the development of the NDA's overall competition
strategy and in advance of any specific proposals for site competition.
CONCLUSION
19. HSE considers the omens for the new
Authority are good. Its recruitment of a small number of HSE staff
with wide regulatory experience should help to facilitate informed
discussion. We look forward to building on our already good relations
with the emergent NDA and assisting it to ensure that the legacy
is dealt with in a timely manner—whilst ensuring that industry
is able to continue to give health and safety the highest priority.
24 February 2005
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