The Office for Nuclear Regulation is planning to recruit 40 nuclear safety inspectors in each of the next two years, to give them the resources they need to regulate the nuclear industry and its increasing activities. From 23 February, the new safety inspector vacancies will go live and candidates w…
Blog posts : "nuclear"
UK nuclear power stations - 'stress test' progress report
The UK’s nuclear power stations have all started ‘stress tests’ as part of an agreement to test all such facilities across Europe, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) confirms today.
Following the nuclear accident at Fukushima in Japan, every nuclear power generating country in Europe…
UK nuclear regulator publishes five-year plan
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has published its Corporate Plan setting out its strategic intentions over the next five years and explaining how these will be resourced.
In the foreword of the plan, by Nick Baldwin (Chair of ONR) and Mike Weightman (HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installatio…
Interim report on lessons learnt from Fukushima
Releasing the findings on 18 May, Mike Weightman, executive head of the ONR, stressed that current and proposed reactor designs in the UK are different to those at Fukushima, therfore:
"In considering the direct causes of the Fukushima accident we see no reason for curtailing the operation of nuclea…
Interim report on lessons learnt from Fukushima for UK nuclear industry
On 18 May 2011, Mike Weightman, the UK's chief inspector of nuclear installations, will publish his interim report on the implications and lessons learnt for the UK nuclear industry from the nuclear crisis in Japan.
The report will be available on the Office for Nuclear Regulation website.
Previous …
Strontium detected in soil and plants outside of the 30km zone around the Fukushima plant
World Nuclear News reports that small amounts of the radioisotope strontium have been detected in soil and plants outside of the 30km zone around the Fukushima nuclear facility. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology has found 3.3 to 32 becquerels of strontium-90 per kil…
Nuclear Accidents
Japan has raised the severity of its nuclear crisis from level 5 to the highest level (level 7), describing it at a "major accident" and putting it on a par with the Chernobyl disaster. Whilst reporting this, The Telegraph (click to view full article) has also included details of previous incident…
Fukishima iodine found in further locations in Scotland
Iodine 131 believed to be from the Fukishima nuclear facility in Japan, has been found at further locations in Scotland, according to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).
SEPA said that samples had been detected at Dounreay, at Lerwick and in East Kilbride.
The news follows o…
New UK nuclear industry regulator launched
Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has been established as an agency of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), pending planned legislation to establish it as a statutory body. The ONR will bring together the relevant nuclear regulatory functions of HSE (through its Nuclear Directorate) and the Depa…
Fukushima iodine 131 found in Glasgow
"Extremely low" traces of radioactive iodine 131 from the stricken nuclear plant in Japan, have been picked up by an air sampler in Glasgow.
Japan 'lessons learned' report for the UK nuclear industry
On 12 March 2011, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, requested Mike Weightman, HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations, to produce a report on the implications for the UK nuclear industry of the accident that took place at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power stat…
China suspends all new nuclear power plants
China’s State Council has announced that it is suspending
approval for all new nuclear power plants until the government can issue
revised safety rules, following the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan.
For further details, visit The Washington Post.
UK chief nuclear inspector comments on events in Japan
Mike Weightman, chief nuclear inspector and head (director) of the Health and Safety Executive’s Nuclear Directorate, the UK’s independent nuclear safety and security regulator has given his initial thoughts on recent events in Japan and the implications and lessons learned for the nuclear industr…
South Korea to send boric acid to Japan
In response to the problems with the Fukishima reactors in Japan, the South Korean government has offered to send boric acid supplies for Japan to use in efforts to stabilise the reactors. Boron can be injected into the core of a nuclear reactor to inhibit nuclear reactions.
Find out more at World …
Berkeley decommissioning programme reaches next stage
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports that "Magnox, the licensee at Berkeley nuclear power station has taken a significant step towards hazard reduction at the decommissioning site, moving into the stage of ‘care and maintenance’".
For the next 60 years, the station will be left to deca…
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