The terrorist attacks in the United States of America on 11 September 2001 changed the world. We entered a new period of international terrorism which requires a global multilateral response to combat.
The Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials was amended as a response to this event. The amendment expanded the scope of the convention to cover the physical protection of nuclear sites and material used for peaceful purposes in domestic use, storage and transport.
The UK is signed up to this convention, which places legally binding obligations on the UK regarding civil nuclear security. Our Protective Security specialism plays an integral part in ensuring those obligations are fulfilled through its regulation of the nuclear industry.
Our nuclear security regulation focuses on protecting the public from a radiological event caused by the theft or sabotage of nuclear materials, associated facilities (such as structures, systems and components important to nuclear safety), and transport of these materials.
We do this by thoroughly assessing and testing the nuclear industry’s security arrangements to ensure efficacy against a range of terrorist threats. We also conduct regular inspections to assure they are compliant with these arrangements as required by the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations (NISR) 2003.
We are also the workforce vetting authority for the civil nuclear industry of approximately 63,000 personnel - making us the third largest vetting authority in the UK. As well as overseeing pre-employment screening and national security vetting, we are also responsible for ensuring compliance with ongoing personnel security (known as aftercare) arrangements. This includes employer policies that promote an effective personnel security culture.
Together, vetting and aftercare are designed to assure the initial and ongoing honesty, integrity and trustworthiness of the workforce. Pre-employment screening checks are delivered by the respective licensed site.
Our Protective Security specialism reviews employer policies on the existence of suitable employee support services for those experiencing difficulties, for example, with finance or stress; drug and alcohol testing arrangements; social media etc. This helps to identify and mitigate the potential for individuals to exercise poor judgement or be susceptible to coercion, blackmail, or becoming an insider threat.
These measures are important to provide confidence that the workforce within the industry - who may have access to certain materials or safety-critical systems - do not deliberately or carelessly take actions which could potentially cause harmful radiological consequences.