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HSE BEGINS PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON REVISED NUCLEAR SAFETY ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLES
The Health and Safety Executive is seeking views on revisions to its Safety Assessment Principles for nuclear installations. Comments are invited by the end of May 2006. The safety of a nuclear plant is the responsibility of the licensee, who is required to submit to HSE a written demonstration of safety, or safety case, which is periodically updated to reflect changing conditions. The Safety Assessment Principles provide a famework for the technical judgements that HSE inspectors have to make to establish whether safety cases are adequate, thus ensuring a consistent approach to the assessment process. HSE has ensured that the SAPS reflect up-to-date good practice worldwide by benchmarking them against International Atomic Energy Agency standards. The review has also sought to make them relevant to decommissioning activities, which currently form the major focus of the restructured parts of the industry administered by the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency. The revised SAPs provide important guidance on the application of reducing risks 'as low as reasonably' and contain new sections on radioactive waste management, decommissioning and contaminated land. HSE considers that they will deliver more effective and efficient nuclear regulation, in line with the Health and Safety Commission's principles of transparency, proportionality and consistency. HSE consulted the nuclear industry on early drafts of the new SAPS in 2005 and is now seeking wider public views. The draft SAPs are available via HSE's website at www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/saps/index.htm or from the postal address below. Comments can be made via email to saps@hse.gsi.gov.uk attaching the completed Word version of the response form provided, or by downloading, printing out and completing the response form in hard copy. Postal comments can be sent to: the SAPS project team, HSE Nuclear Safety Directorate, 4N.G, Redgrave Court, Merton Road, Bootle L20 7HS. The deadline for receipt of comments is 31 May 2006.
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