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Safeguards project shortlisted in national awards

The project which saw ONR become the UK’s national nuclear safeguards regulator from 31 December 2020 has been shortlisted for a national award.

The State System of Accounting for and Control of Nuclear Material (SSAC) project has been shortlisted in the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) UK National Project Awards in the 'Project of the Year (Public Sector)' category.

Nuclear safeguards are measures to verify that countries comply with international obligations not to use nuclear materials from civil nuclear programmes for non-peaceful purposes.

Led by former Deputy Chief Inspector Dr Mina Golshan CBE, we were tasked with developing and implementing a new domestic regulatory regime for safeguards, recruiting and training a team of safeguards specialists, and implementing a bespoke IT system – the Safeguards Information Management and Reporting System (SIMRS).

Mina said: “To establish the SSAC, we had to determine and agree the detailed scope of work asked of ONR, develop robust governance arrangements and set-up a project management office dedicated to the project to help us adopt best practice.

“I am extremely proud to say that our team achieved this ambitious work within the non-negotiable and challenging timeline of Britain’s departure from the European Union, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The PMI’s Project of the Year (Public Sector) will be announced on 15 July. Find out more about the PMI National Project Awards here.

Find out more about nuclear safeguards here.