The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has published the UK National Action Plan in response to a European-wide review of fire protection at nuclear installations.
This work is part of the second European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) Topical Peer Review (TPR2), with the subject of fire protection chosen due to its potential to challenge safety systems.
ONR led the UK's contribution to TPR2, combining regulatory and licensee self-assessment to produce a National Assessment Report for European peer review and a UK National Action Plan in response to the findings.
The review covered a representative sample of installations across the nuclear lifecycle, including EDF's operating and defuelling reactors, Hinkley Point C nuclear construction site in Somerset, Sellafield's waste and decommissioning facilities, Urenco nuclear fuel enrichment plant in Capenhurst, Springfields nuclear fuel production installation in Lancashire, and Dounreay's Prototype Fast Reactor complex in Scotland.
Overall, UK installations were found to meet the required fire safety standards with no fundamental sector-wide shortfalls identified.
The peer review did pinpoint three national areas for improvement, with recommendations for Springfields, Dounreay and Sellafield to better formalise, link and prioritise their nuclear fire safety arrangements.
These items were identified by licensees during the self-assessment phase.
Improvements are already being made at Dounreay and a new Fire Safety Strategy programme is in place at Sellafield.
A recurring theme in the National Assessment Report was the need for licensees to strengthen how they identify, assess and record combined and consequential hazards involving fire, which ONR will continue to monitor using existing tools including regulatory issues, inspections, and safety case reviews.
ONR also considered international good practices identified through TPR2, including learning from non-nuclear fire events, fire testing or substantiation of credited fire safety elements, dynamic control of transient fire loads, and use or consideration of thermographic techniques. TPR2 has provided a valuable body of international knowledge in these areas, and ONR will share relevant learning with UK licensees.
Following its exit from the EU, the UK became an ‘observer’ of ENSREG and while it is no longer legally bound, the government has decided to participate in the TPR.
ONR was requested to coordinate the UK’s involvement on behalf of the then Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Jacob Plummer, Principal Inspector – Nuclear Safety, and project lead for TPR2:
"This peer review, undertaken with significant support from UK licensees, confirms that nuclear fire safety across the UK's nuclear sector remains robust, with adequate arrangements in place across the lifecycle, from new-build to decommissioning.
"Where we have identified areas for improvement, particularly around how licensees record and assess combined hazards involving fire, we are already seeing meaningful progress.
"We will continue to hold the industry to the highest standards, tracking these actions through our established regulatory tools to ensure the UK's nuclear sites remain safe both now and into the future."