REGULATORS - Nuclear Safety

DML must ensure that its practices and procedures comply with an extensive range of legal and contractual requirements to ensure that the risks and any impact on people and the environment are minimised.

Two bodies regulate the nuclear part of DML's business. As the nuclear work is predominantly for the Royal Navy, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) retains a regulatory role in addition to the civil regulator, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII). Both regulators require DML to have comprehensive arrangements to operate safely and they regularly carry out rigorous inspections.

Civil Regulator

The NII is the Nuclear Safety Directorate of the Health and Safety Executive. It licences the part of DML's site at Devonport Royal Dockyard where nuclear operations take place. This is known as the Nuclear Licensed Site. As part of the Nuclear Site Licence, and in common with all nuclear installations, it imposes 36 separate conditions under which the licence is operated.

The NII nominates inspectors to visit the site on a regular basis. Its primary role is to ensure that the site is being operated in accordance with the licence and the conditions attached to it. It also ensures that all nuclear facilities are sufficiently robust to meet the demanding standards required for nuclear work. Dedicated site inspectors are supported by a number of assessors who closely scrutinise the company's arrangements and proposals.

MoD Regulator

The MoD regulator, Chairman Naval Nuclear Regulatory Panel (CNNRP), authorises DML to carry out nuclear activities on both the Nuclear Licensed Site and on adjacent waters. Whilst this Authorisation closely mirrors the Nuclear Site Licence it is concerned more with submarine plant and the infrastructure required to support it. CNNRP works closely with the NII in carrying out inspections.

Enforcement Action

There was no enforcement action taken by the NII or CNNRP during 2005.