The Office for Nuclear Regulation has published its Annual Report and Accounts covering 2021/22.
It shows how the UK regulator delivered its mission to protect society by securing safe nuclear operations and achieved the five priorities it set out in its Corporate Plan 2021/22.
It also demonstrates the progress made towards achieving its vision to be a modern, transparent regulator, delivering trusted outcomes and value.
The report explains how ONR maintained its regulatory focus as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact society and provides a summary of regulatory, organisational and financial performance, as well as governance information.
Key highlights include:
- a successful first year as the UK’s domestic safeguards regulator
- issuing a design acceptance confirmation for the UK Hualong Pressurised Water Reactor (UK HPR1000)
- stakeholder feedback that ONR continues to be viewed, as 'professional, independent and trusted'
- significant progress in its ongoing modernisation programme
- confirmation from an independent review that ONR is meeting its objectives and effectively delivering its regulatory purposes
Chair Mark McAllister said: “Protecting staff wellbeing and ensuring we maintained our resilience as the pandemic continued has been paramount for us, so we could deliver the critical and essential activities that enable us to regulate the UK nuclear industry effectively and to protect society.
"We also successfully embedded a new leadership structure, which brings us in line with other nuclear regulators across the globe."
"Stakeholder engagement remained high on our agenda, as we continued to work with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and academia and to undertake our strategic international work.
"We also carried out significant engagement to shape our draft Openness and Transparency Framework, which we look forward to sharing later in the year.”
Chief Executive and Chief Nuclear Inspector Mark Foy said: “Our top priority remained the delivery of our core regulatory work, with an extensive programme across our functions and particular emphasis on sites in enhanced and significantly enhanced attention.
"During the reporting period the industry performed well and the required standards of safety and security were maintained, and safeguards compliance. I’ll be publishing my annual report on industry performance in the autumn.”
The ONR Annual Report and Accounts was formally laid in Parliament today by the Department for Work and Pensions, ONR’s government sponsorship body.