The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) welcomed members of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) to its Redgrave Court office for a two-day workshop focused on the safe and secure long-term storage of higher activity radioactive waste.
Working alongside colleagues from the Environment Agency and SEPA, ONR briefed CoRWM on its regulatory oversight of Sellafield and the 13 Nuclear Restoration Services sites.
Discussions covered regulatory requirements on these sites, licensee performance, and enforcement activity.
ONR shared its approach to openness and transparency, including an overview of its policy and how it communicates with the public and stakeholders.
The workshop also provided a valuable opportunity for CoRWM to test their emerging propositions on long-term waste storage with ONR and the environmental regulators.
Shane Turner, Director of Regulation for ONR's Sellafield, Decommissioning, Fuel and Waste Division, who co-chaired the workshop, said: "CoRWM is a highly respected independent body, and it was a pleasure to host its members for this workshop.
"The workshop provided an excellent opportunity to update the committee on both the challenges and the progress being made across the UK's decommissioning sites.
"We were also able to outline our approach to openness and transparency, and to reflect on how far we've come since we became a standalone organisation in 2014.
"We've worked hard to become a much more open and transparent regulator in that time, and this workshop was a valuable chance to update on that work.
“I look forward to continuing our engagement with the committee.”
Dr Derek Lacey, Deputy Chair of CoRWM, added: “CoRWM meets regularly with safety and environmental regulators. This workshop was organised in response to our request for comprehensive and detailed briefings on regulation of the UK’s decommissioning sites to inform our current study of interim storage of higher activity waste.
"These briefings were very valuable and have provided some new insights which CoRWM will consider further.”
Further information about how we regulate decommissioning sites is available on our website.