Delivering safety

In the United Kingdom there have been significant recent changes to the management of civil nuclear liabilities. With the formation in April 2005 of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), ownership of the civil nuclear licensed sites in the UK, including the Magnox Reactor Stations, passed to this new organisation. The NDAs mission is to seek acceleration of the nuclear clean up programme and deliver increased value for money and, consequently, are driving their contractors to seek more innovative ways of performing work. British Nuclear Group manages the UK Magnox stations under contract to the NDA. This paper summarises the approach being taken within its Reactor Sites business to work with suppliers to enhance working arrangements at sites, improve the delivery of decommissioning programmes and deliver improvements in safety and environmental performance. The UK Magnox stations are 1. generation gas-graphite reactors, constructed in the 1950's and 1960's. Two stations are currently still operating, three are shut-down undergoing defueling and the other five are being decommissioned. Despite the distractions of industry restructuring, an uncompromising policy of demanding improved performance in conjunction with improved safety and environmental standards has been adopted. Over the past 5 years, this policy has resulted in step-changes in performance at Reactor Sites, with increased electrical output and accelerated defueling and decommissioning. The improvements in performance have been mirrored by improvements in safety (DACR of 0 at 5 sites); environmental standards (reductions in energy and water consumption, increased waste recycling) and the overall health of the workforce (20% reduction in sickness absence). These achievements have, in turn, been recognised by external bodies, resulting in several awards, including: the world's first ISRS and IERS level 10 awards (Sizewell, 2006), the NUMEX plant maintenance award (Bradwell, 2006), numerous RoSPA awards at site and sector level and nomination, at Company level, for the RoSPA George Earle trophy for outstanding performance in Health and Safety (Reactor Sites, 2006). After 'setting the scene' and describing the challenges that the company has had to respond to, the paper explains how these improvements have been delivered. Specifically it explains the process that has been followed and the parts played by sites and suppliers to deliver improved performance. With the experience of already having transitioned several Magnox stations from operations to defueling and then to decommissioning, the paper describes the valuable experience that has been gained in achieving an optimum change process and maintaining momentum. (authors)