The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) Annual Conference yesterday was a chance to bring into focus the 2022-23 industry performance of Great Britain's nuclear sector - and the key challenges and opportunities ahead.
Here's a selection of photographs from the Royal Society in London which illustrates how the conference unfolded throughout the day.
We hope that all delegates enjoyed the event and the packed and varied agenda of speakers, panel discussions and question and answer sessions on a wide range of topics.
See many of you again in 2024!
- Full report on the annual conference
The conference room being prepared, above, and once underway, Mark Foy introduced the main points from his recently-published annual report.
The Chief Nuclear Inspector outlined his regulatory priorities for 2023/24, and later, delegates watched a video demonstrating some of the industry achievements from the past year.
Gwen Parry-Jones OBE, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Great British Nuclear, gave her personal reflections about the conventional health and safety challenges currently facing the industry.
Roundtable discussions this year focused on the topic of nuclear site health and safety.
The first of two panel discussions, 'The Workforce Challenge', dealt with questions of capacity and capability within the industry. Mike Finnerty, ONR Director of Regulation - Operating Facilities Division (right) and Sir Simon Bollom, Chair of the Nuclear Skills Taskforce (centre), joined Jane Loughran, ONR Head of Communications, to debate the issue.
Donald Urquhart, ONR’s Executive Director of Regulation, addressed the audience about pinpointing performance improvements within the two identified strategic areas for attention - conventional health and safety and cyber security.
Tackling cyber security performance was the talking point for the second panel session, with Paul Fyfe, ONR’s Director of Regulation, Civil Nuclear Security and Safeguards, Professor Paul Howarth, Chief Executive Officer, National Nuclear Laboratory, Professor Simon Hepburn, Chief Executive Officer, UK Cyber Security Council, and Mihaela Jembei, Director of Regulatory Cyber, Information Commissioner’s Office, sharing their insights and viewpoints.
A final Q&A session with the ONR Executive Leadership team, with Mark, Donald and Sarah High, ONR Deputy Chief Executive, rounded off the conference.