Corporate report

Office for Nuclear Regulation strategy 2020-25

Published 21 July 2020

Presented to Parliament pursuant to Paragraph 25(3) of Schedule 7 to the Energy Act 2013

July 2020

Office for Nuclear Regulation copyright 2020

ISBN 978-1-5286-1875-5

Introduction to our 2025 strategy

This strategy sets our direction for the next five years. Our new mission focuses on protecting society, while our vision looks to a modern ONR that delivers trusted outcomes which continue to inspire confidence.

The work of the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) affects everyone: workers at civil and defence nuclear sites and through the supply chain, transport carriers and hospitals, interested communities, and the public at home and abroad. To maintain their confidence and trust, strong and independent regulation is essential.

With decades of experience, starting in 1960 as the Inspectorate of Nuclear Installations, then as part of the Health and Safety Executive from 1975, ONR formed as an independent public corporation in 2014. Since then, we have matured to become an organisation that is entirely aligned to working as a world-class regulator. We are proud that our people’s expertise and ways of working have led to positive tangible outcomes, on behalf of our diverse stakeholders.

We have no doubt that our role, focus and efforts ensure that the industry maintains an excellent nuclear safety and security record.

Despite the impact of significant political and nuclear sector uncertainty, we have deployed our ‘enabling’ approach openly and with great transparency, whilst taking action where standards fall short in the protection of workers and the public.

This strategy sets our direction for the next five years as the global and nuclear landscape continues to evolve and change and explains how we will be agile in response. Our new mission focuses on protecting society, while our vision looks to a modern ONR that delivers trusted outcomes which continue to inspire confidence. These characterise the direction: a focus on exemplary regulation, with clear intent to continue to modernise and improve how we work, to give the best possible service and value. We will also embrace innovation and new ways of working to ensure industry responds to its sector challenges safely.

As the ONR Board, we set the strategic direction for the organisation, ensuring efficient and effective regulation of the nuclear industry. This includes leading the strategic thinking for improved regulatory consistency and proportionality, and working in a more joined-up way across all of our purposes and with others, to improve regulatory co-ordination and safety outcomes. We’ll review our charging strategy too, ensuring our approach and methodology is fair and transparent.

We want to be an exemplar of transparency and openness retaining the trust and confidence of the workers and public we serve. We already listen and act on your feedback and we want to go further. So we will expand our stakeholder engagement, improve our accessibility and proactively seek and use others’ feedback to help us learn.

Internally, we will continue to develop our highly respected people to be their best, in a healthy, positive culture, where they can excel. We’ll also focus on delivering better value for money by streamlining all of our processes and using better technology.

We thank everyone who has helped us develop this strategy – our staff, those we regulate, non‑government organisations, government bodies, and others.

We hope that you will find this document of interest, and continue to support our work.

ONR Board

What has influenced us?

In setting our strategy, we have considered how our operating environment affects our work. Factors include:

Internal

Inward facing

• Previous investment to build our capability, capacity and maturity
• Successes and lessons learned
• Staff commitment and desire for continued improvement

Outward facing

• Our appetite to work more closely and better co-ordinate with other regulators
• Stakeholder appetite for transparency and engagement at all levels
• Our learning to date
• An economic climate which demands greater value for money from all public bodies

External

Government

• Better Regulation agenda and the White Paper on Regulation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution
• Policies including energy, Nuclear Sector Deal, net zero legislation, and the role of regulators to support innovation
• Fiscal priorities including defence and Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) commitments

Industry

• Energy Technology Institute study ‘Nuclear Cost Drivers’
• EU and Euratom Exit, including establishing a new domestic safeguards regime
• Uncertain economic and political appetite for nuclear investment regarding potential new nuclear build of small, medium or large-scale reactors
• Ageing facilities, including the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor fleet and Sellafield, and dutyholder investment
• Changes to the NDA’s strategy
• Continued importance of decommissioning and radioactive waste management, and work being done to identify a Geological Disposal Facility site

Other

• Public perceptions of nuclear energy and waste
• Continued and changing security threats to critical national infrastructure
• The local and global challenge of climate change
• The national and global effects of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic
• Diversification of the nuclear supply chain
• International and domestic regulatory trends

We do not anticipate any change to our statutory duties set out in the Energy Act (2013) and the Nuclear Safeguards Act 2018, however, this will be subject to the findings of a government post-implementation review in 2021 as required by The Energy Act.

Our mission, vision, values and strategic themes

We are introducing explicit organisational values that define what is really important in how we behave with each other, and with you.

Our mission is our reason for being, supported by our vision of how ONR will be by 2025.

To support this, we are introducing explicit organisational values that define what is really important in how we behave with each other, and with you.

This is delivered through a strong focus on four strategic themes. These have evolved from 2015/16 and highlight our high-level priorities that will ensure ONR develops as we deliver our mission.

Strategic themes one and two remain externally focused: one on our regulation, and two on our stakeholders. Strategic themes three and four remain internally focused: three on our people, and four on our organisation.

Together, these are the key components of ONR 2025.

Our mission, vision, values and strategic themes

Mission:

To protect society by securing safe nuclear operations

Vision:

To be a modern, transparent regulator delivering trusted outcomes and value

Accountable – Open-minded – Fair – Supportive

• Influencing proportionate improvements
• Inspiring stakeholder confidence
• Creating a culture of inclusion and excellence
• Modernising how we work

Our purpose

Our mission is to protect society by securing safe nuclear operations

The nuclear industry is one of the most hazardous in the world, and its safe operation and public confidence depend on strong and independent regulation. Our objective is to ensure operators of current and future GB licensed nuclear sites and other dutyholders conduct their operations safely and can account for and control nuclear material.

While working closely with government, industry, other regulators and wider stakeholders, we will continue to fiercely protect the independence of our regulatory decisions.

As a highly experienced and respected regulator, we will be an active contributor to policy, standards and practice at home and abroad. As a public corporation, accountable to the public and Parliament, we will work independently, transparently and objectively based on evidence.

All of our purposes are enablers for our mission and so, although we no longer refer distinctly to site security, it remains critical in our work. Often working in close partnership with other regulators, we will continue to deliver our five statutory purposes which together ensure safe nuclear operations now and in the long term:

• nuclear safety
• nuclear site health and safety
• nuclear security
• nuclear safeguards, and
• safety of transport of nuclear and radioactive materials

Our enabling regulatory philosophy focuses on delivering the most appropriate outcomes in the public interest, in a proportionate and consistent manner, through a spectrum of regulatory tools, from influencing, advising and, where necessary, enforcement. This will not change.

Our vision is to be a modern, transparent regulator delivering trusted outcomes and value

We will build on our strong track record of effective regulation to retain trust and confidence in our purpose. As a public body, we will add value through our work, our early input and engagement, and deliver value for money.

Our policy advice and stakeholder information will be as trusted and valued as our regulatory outcomes, by those we work with and whom we serve.

We will look for best practice across sectors and borders, including taking account of EU Exit, and work collaboratively with others who can help us to be our best for the public, for workers and for those we regulate. We will continue with our transparency agenda, to become an exemplar by focusing on making our information available and accessible to those who want it, listening better, and using feedback to improve.

This will see us realise the benefits of prior and future investment, and focus on demonstrating value in what we do, how we work, and our decisions.

We must modernise our operations to make it easier for our staff to do their jobs well and efficiently, and improve our processes so that they focus on outcomes and better suit our needs.

This will see us:

• use digital applications and channels as a norm
• be able to share information more easily and speedily
• have better management information to inform our advice and decisions, and
• review our capabilities, job roles and structures to ensure best fit with fluctuating demands and priorities

Our values

Our values set the tone, and underpin how we will deliver our vision and mission, how we will establish the behaviours we need in order to be our best, and how we will create a culture of inclusion and excellence.

Our values provide a common understanding for how ONR staff are expected to act in their relationships with each other, our stakeholders, and the public.

They set the tone, and underpin how we will deliver our vision and mission, how we will establish the behaviours we need in order to be our best, and how we will create a culture of inclusion and excellence.

We will align our processes and ways of working to the values, so that they become intrinsic to how we recruit, develop, assess and promote people within ONR.

Fair

We are inclusive and respect people for who they are. We welcome and value diverse perspectives, in and outside of ONR, and share our views openly and constructively. We make decisions fairly, based on the best, broadest available information. We recognise good performance and behaviour and address exceptions.

Open-minded

We proactively seek new and innovative ways of working to help each other and ONR excel. We are open to ideas and feedback from our colleagues and stakeholders and take all opportunities to improve ourselves, our teams and our organisation.

Accountable

We act with integrity and honour our commitments. We are accountable for our actions, behaviours and impact on others. We own our mistakes and learn from them. We ask for and offer help when needed.

Supportive

We show that we care for each other and our stakeholders, making a positive difference to others’ wellbeing and performance. We listen, trust each other and work together to harness our collective skills, knowledge and experience to make better decisions.

Strategic theme one: Influencing proportionate improvements

We are committed to our enabling regulation philosophy, working with other regulators to influence sound and safe outcomes, with a greater focus on ensuring our decisions are demonstrably consistent and proportionate.

Our primary objective is to influence the safe operation of current and future nuclear sites in Great Britain and of packages in transport, as well as to account for and control nuclear materials. We will do so to high legal standards, using the full range of our enforcement powers. This will involve significant work across all elements of the nuclear lifecycle, from design assessment, through to new reactors, operating facilities, defueling, waste management and decommissioning.

We are committed to our enabling regulation philosophy, working with other regulators to influence sound and safe outcomes, with a focus on ensuring our decisions are demonstrably consistent and proportionate.

We will embed our new safeguards function and Security Assessment Principles and continue to respond to the challenges of operation of ageing facilities. We will also focus on decommissioning, waste management and the building of new reactors and other nuclear facilities, as well as design assessments.

We will:

a. embrace innovation, new approaches and technologies in how and what we regulate, sharing best practice case studies and encouraging dialogue
b. routinely use knowledge, operational experience and trends from past interventions and other sources to inform more strategic and intelligence informed risk-based interventions
c. be clear about the costs of our regulatory decisions
d. improve systematic inspection and intervention feedback, and learning with duty holders to improve impact
e. enhance operational co-ordination, collaboration and integration across our purposes

Strategic theme two: Inspiring stakeholder confidence

We will continue to strive for excellence in explaining our regulatory judgements and decisions, particularly with dutyholders and interested communities.

It is key to public confidence that we engage with diverse stakeholders with a wide range of views, learn from others, work openly and transparently, and communicate in accessible ways.

We will continue to strive for excellence in explaining our regulatory judgements and decisions, particularly with dutyholders and interested communities.

As a highly experienced and competent regulator, we will speak with one voice to inform government nuclear policy at the earliest possible stage.

Through active membership of cross-regulator working groups, and bilateral agreements with respected international parties, we will continue to influence nuclear safety standards and practice at home and abroad.

We will:

a. collaborate with, and learn from, UK and international stakeholders to improve our effectiveness, the outcomes we influence, and seek to ensure no unnecessary regulatory burden
b. retain public trust by seeking to be an exemplar of transparency through activities such as local and national engagement, proactive publication of information and considering accessibility requirements at the outset
c. engage industry bodies, supply chain and potential investors to promote consistent awareness and understanding of our enabling approach and regulatory innovation
d. inform nuclear policy with UK government from the earliest stages
e. strengthen our relationships with academic institutions to inform our capability, research and decisions

Strategic theme three: Creating a culture of inclusion and excellence

Everyone will show accountability for creating a healthy, inclusive organisational culture that embraces diversity and every individual, and enables everyone to excel.

We are proud of how our people have responded to change since our inception in 2014. As we adapt to new challenges, we will continue to invest in our staff, building capability, resilience and wellbeing in our great teams, underpinned by a focus on inclusion and excellence as standard.

Everyone will show accountability for creating a healthy, inclusive organisational culture that embraces diversity and every individual, and enables everyone to excel – we recognise that is a job for everyone, not just a few.

We will operate in a culture of excellence, where we get it right first time and address issues at root cause – driving value in a systematic way, at individual, team and organisational level.

Our leaders and managers will develop to become equally competent in people and technical matters. They will lead change and improvement alongside operational delivery as a matter of course.

Having invested in our capacity and an ONR Academy over recent years, we should see the benefits of a skilled and increasingly experienced workforce which is well aligned and works across functions.

We will:

a. continue to develop a positive, inclusive culture that consistently reflects our values and focuses equally on delivery and behaviour
b. lead change effectively, so we all take personal accountability and credit for organisational success
c. bring greater focus to improving performance and productivity through training, and enhanced leadership and management capabilities
d. support suitably qualified, experienced and professional inspectors to be more joined‑up by working across our functions and regulatory purposes
e. proactively seek and respond to feedback (internally and externally) to improve our performance

Strategic theme four: Modernising how we work

We will make the best of our specialist expertise and reflect the need for more collaboration, integration and transparency with staff and stakeholders alike.

We have made steady progress towards becoming an effective organisation, so we will build on our strengths by realising the benefits of past and current investment and becoming more efficient.

Our new independent IT architecture will enable our WIReD (Well Informed Regulatory Decisions process and system improvement) project to provide a digital first interface with dutyholders and stakeholders, providing greater transparency of regulation. It will also mitigate risks, enhance regulatory memory and knowledge management, and increase capability and consistency in our decision making.

By providing our people with the right working environment and a fully-aligned structure across all roles and locations, we will make the best of our specialist expertise and reflect the need for more collaboration, integration and transparency with staff and stakeholders alike.

To improve our collaborative and integrated working, we will streamline key processes and use technology solutions that support shared learning, insight, analysis and decision-making.

In managing risk, and as we strive for continuous improvement and productivity, we will involve more of our staff in the development and execution of our projects to improve our change and project management capability. We intend to build on our strengths and improve those areas where we do not yet excel, learning from others to help us deliver effectively and efficiently, including considerations about how to reduce our environmental and carbon impact in line with broader government objectives for net zero..

Together, this will enable greater effectiveness and efficiency, to ensure we remain sustainable and continue to add value as an organisation, to our stakeholders and the public.

We will:

a. realise the benefits of recent and new projects through effective change and programme/project management
b. streamline our processes and introduce technology to help us work better and more efficiently
c. improve our strategic workforce planning tools, data and competence to better plan for medium and long-term demand scenarios
d. review our organisational capabilities, capacity requirements (current and future demands) to inform our organisational blueprint
e. review our charging strategy and associated model to increase predictability of charges and income

What success will look like in 2025

The success of this strategy will be judged by our key stakeholders: the public, government, licensees and dutyholders, and our people. We’ll set deliverables and targets for our activity and impact in our corporate plans, track progress through our Organisational Effectiveness Indicator framework and report in our annual report and accounts.

To our licensees and dutyholders:

• be open to innovation in both how and what we regulate
• systematically seek and use inspection and intervention feedback to improve our impact
• provide greater clarity about the costs of our regulatory decisions
• seek more learning from UK and international organisations to improve the outcomes we influence and ensure no unnecessary regulatory burden
• act as an enabling regulator consistently across industry
• be more efficient and effective

To our people:

• display a culture that reflects our values
• provide enhanced leadership and management capabilities
• work consistently across disciplines
• develop a model of feedback and response
• achieve the intended benefits of change

To the public ministers and government:

• continue to hold the nuclear industry to account, including taking robust enforcement action where appropriate
• proactively publish clear, accessible information and engage openly and constructively
• inform government on nuclear policy
• enhance our use of academic research to inform our regulation

Development of this strategy

The Energy Act (2013) provided for the creation of ONR on 1 April 2014, and requires us to publish and review our strategy every five years. Together with our regular independent stakeholder surveys, we have embraced this opportunity to engage about how we should develop.

We have engaged with our staff, dutyholders, industry, including the Safety Directors’ Forum, government, and our Non-Government Organisations Forum. We then formally consulted in the public domain for four weeks from January 2020. We are grateful to everyone who has shown interest in our journey.

On behalf of our sponsor, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Employment will lay this document in Parliament, and we will publish it.

We will also publish our annual corporate plans, which will explain, year-on-year, how we plan to deliver this strategy, and our annual reports and accounts, which will explain how we performed each year.

If you would like to keep up with our work, visit our website: www.onr.org.uk

Twitter: @The_ONR
LinkedIn: Office for Nuclear Regulation