Part 1 of 2 Parts
         The U.K. Better Regulation Delivery Office “…is working towards a regulatory environment in which businesses have the confidence to invest and grow and citizens and communities are properly protected. We do this by operating Primary Authority to ensure consistent regulation, improving the professionalism of front-line regulators, and giving businesses a say in their regulation.”
        The Regulators’ Code was put into effect in April of 2014 in the U.K. by the BRDO. The Code “…provides a clear, flexible and principles-based framework for how regulators should engage with those they regulate. Nearly all non-economic regulators, including local authorities and fire and rescue authorities, must have regard to it when developing standards, policies or procedures that either guide their regulatory activities with business or apply to other regulators.”
        The U.K. Office of Nuclear Regulation is the agency charged with the oversight of nuclear power plants. It is an independent statutory corporation that was created formally in the Energy Act of 2013. The ONR assumed the duties of several other agencies including the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, the Office for Civil Nuclear Security, the UK Safeguards Office, and the Department for Transport’s Radioactive Materials Transport Team.        The cost of ONR operations is covered by fees that are charged to the nuclear industry. The ONR reports to the U.K Department for Work and Pensions, although it also works closely with the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
      In 2015, the ONR issued a report on its compliance with the Regulators’ Code. Since then, it has executed further self-assessment exercises on the progress that it is making on the action recommendations from the initial report. The ONR has just provided an update to its compliance with the Regulators’ Code.
       The ONR has issued a statement which reads, “In the UK, we have a goal-setting framework for regulation of the nuclear sector which places accountability clearly on duty holders to achieve the high standards of safety and security required. Reflecting on our experience of regulating in accordance with the Code we generally found, as in 2015, that our regulatory framework allows us to regulate according to the high standards expected while also operating in accordance with the Code. However, we are not complacent and following this self-assessment exercise we have identified further improvements that we can make to better align our activity with themes in the Code, while also supporting our broader desire to continuously improve.”
       After the ONR published its 2015 review, the ONR Board commissioned a review of the economic impact of its regulation on industry duty holders. NERA Economic Consulting was charged with investigating the economic impact of ONR’s civil nuclear safety regulation.
      With regard to the new study of economic impact, the ONR said, “From the outset, we were clear that any consideration of cost crucially depends on the circumstances and there are clearly instances, such as meeting fundamental nuclear safety principles or established relevant good practices, where we will not entertain arguments that such measures are too costly. We also asserted that our existing guidance reflects a willingness, where appropriate, to take account of costs during engagement with duty holders.”
Please read Part 2