- Date released: 19 September 2025
- Request number: 202507027
- Release of information under: FOI
Information requested
I am writing to formally request access to the current national standards developed under the Alpha Resilience and Capability (ARC) Program, specifically regarding the design, manufacture, leak testing, and operation of gloveboxes used within the UK nuclear sector.
Our organization is engaged as a supplier and is actively preparing for bidding opportunities involving alpha containment systems. To ensure full compliance with the ARC requirements, which are now integral to nuclear procurement and licensee expectations, we require access to the relevant ARC standard documentation.
It is my understanding that these standards were finalized and adopted sector-wide in 2024, receiving formal endorsement from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and key stakeholders.
I would greatly appreciate your guidance on the following matters:
- The appropriate access process, including whether a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) or supplier registration is necessary.
- Whether the standards can be shared directly or if access is contingent upon the licensee-led procurement process.
Information released
We confirm that under s.1 of the FOIA, we hold the information you have requested. Please see below for a response to each of your questions in turn.
Question 1
The ARC Standards are available for UK based organisations through the Accuris Workbench which requires a paid subscription. Currently, access is not available to international organisations.
As the ARC Standards are available for a fee, there should be no requirement for a non-disclosure agreement in relation to the use of the ARC Standards.
Question 2
In our previous correspondence to you, dated 22 August 2025, we set out that we were considering the public interest test for the information identified in your request. This was in relation to s.43(2) (commercial interests) of the FOIA.
S.43(2) exempts information whose disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any legal person (an individual, a company, the public authority itself or any other legal entity).
As s.43(2) is a qualified exemption we are required to balance the public interest between disclosure and non-disclosure. We have therefore applied the public interest test, as set out below.
Exemptions applied
s.43(2)
PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable
Factors for disclosure
- As set out in our policy for openness and transparency we aim to be an exemplar of transparency and openness to retain, and enhance, the trust and confidence of the workers and public we serve;
- We will use openness and transparency to achieve our objective of developing and maintaining stakeholder trust in ONR as an effective independent regulator; and,
- Issues related to the nuclear industry are subject to close scrutiny and debate, there is a public interest in the release of such information.
Factors against disclosure
- The ARC Glovebox Standards held by ONR has a “proprietary” marking as it contains intellectual property belonging to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), and through our consultation have confirmed that the information is indeed proprietary and not widely known/readily available;
- Disclosing this information would be likely to prejudice the NDA’s commercial interests by divulging information that would otherwise only be available to relevant bodies on a paid subscription basis. This would undermine their ability to secure an income from future subscriptions if we were to make the standards available at no cost to the world at large and undoubtedly affect their ability to compete in a commercial environment; and,
- Should we release this information, it would be likely to prejudice the relationship between ONR and the NDA, diminishing their trust and confidence in us and resulting in reputational damage to ONR.
Conclusion
ONR is committed to being an open and transparent regulator and operates on the basis of openness with a presumption to disclose information.
However, there is a strong public interest in protecting the commercial interests of individual companies and organisations with whom we work, and ensuring they are able to have a safe space away from public scrutiny to develop and share proprietary information without the fear of such information being disclosed.
It is well known that a release under the FOIA is considered to be a ‘release to the world
at large’ and as the standards contain proprietary information which is otherwise only available to relevant bodies via subscription, we strongly feel it should be protected from disclosure.
Therefore, we have decided that the arguments for non-disclosure, both in regard to the interests of the public as well as those of the commercial entity, outweigh the reasons for disclosure of the requested document and as such we are declining to release the information.
Further information
ONR is producing a Technical Assessment Guide on Gloveboxes which is planned for issue at the end of this calendar year and will be available to all via our website.
The NDA are also currently in the process of updating the standards and are looking to release the latest standards in November of this year. This will be made available via the NDA Connect document sharing platform. Should you wish to be invited to join the platform in readiness for the new release in November, please contact arc.programme@sellafieldsites.com and they will send an invitation.