Section 4.1 of the main body of the report highlights areas of good practice found (or confirmed) during the audit. This Appendix provides a more expansive list of good points and practices, identifying many of the characteristics we expect to find in the management and staff of nuclear Licensees. For completeness, the list below includes the points covered in Section 4.1:
The principal organisational structures of both Licensees are 'tried and tested'. Staff at all levels expressed a commitment to safe operation of the nuclear facilities. The staff we interviewed were of a uniformly high standard, technically proficient in their fields, and professional in their approach. They were of the expected calibre and are one of the Licensees' essential strengths. The Directors and senior managers are aware of the potential pitfalls that downsizing can introduce and the problems it has caused in nuclear companies elsewhere. The majority of managers had in place all the measures available to them to mitigate adverse impacts of the downsizing exercise. BEGL has retained its world expertise in structural integrity methodology. Experience sharing programmes are being developed along with the training programmes aimed at achieving professional recognition in new recruits and maintaining technical and managerial competence of more experienced staff. There is a policy of bringing in new graduates to renew and refresh the technical core. The initial targets set for downsizing had, in some areas, been revised when managers had made cases to limit the reduction in staff numbers. Managers have taken steps to maintain threatened capabilities within the Licensees - for example by bringing research work in-house and holding internal technical groups at the minimum critical number to ensure functional expertise was not lost. Some groups within the Licensees consider that the downsizing has produced a better focus on both commercial and safety work, and improved their efficiency and effectiveness. There are policies on mental health monitoring of staff, and these have been translated into guidance on overtime. Senior managers were clearly aware of the potential problems of excessive overtime.
It is recognised at senior level that the staff need more 'time to think', an important factor particularly in specialist technical areas. There is intended to be a period of stability, without large scale changes, once the current downsizing processes (Vision 2000 and Route 21) have been completed; In BEG(UK)L, there is a formal register of Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel (SQEPs). BEG(UK)L makes effective use of Technical Development Committees as a vehicle for co-ordinating work and linking between the centre and the stations. In BEGL there is a general philosophy to retain in-house technical specialists (rather than rely more upon generalists) which accords with the intelligent customer requirement placed upon Licensees. Both Licensees have expressed their desire to achieve world class standards. The senior management are committed to improving all round performance to achieve this aim. Clarification of roles and responsibilities for outage co-ordination work is improving the focus and effectiveness of the groups involved in this work. In some areas improvements have been seen in work planning and prioritisation using a more realistic approach. The monitored Professional Development Programme scheme is considered a good practice. BEGL is looking towards establishing longer term contracts with partners to secure external support; BEGL undertakes the probabilistic safety analysis (PSA) work for its pressurised water reactor in-house. It is recognised by both Licensees that a lessons learned review is required on the MoC process. In BEGL, the procurement team recognises the need to review the ACQUIRE process to improve and capture lessons learned so far. A system is being developed to ensure contractor performance reports are made available to all procurers. In BEGL, the graphite team has been increased in numbers.
BEGL has in place a programme of initiatives to effect improvements to the quality of safety cases; In BEG(UK)L, it is recognised that in the Mechanical and Civil Design area the teams are down to the minimum critical mass and the teams have been held at this level (against the expectation that integration will bring more work). BEG(UK)L plans to provide human factors training for AGR systems staff. In BEG(UK)L, the Fuel Route Design team has taken the initiative of running awareness sessions on the stations to bring people up to speed with changes to the safety case. In BEG(UK)L, the current professional mix within the Civil Design Group appears well balanced to deliver the technical capability to both Licensees. Staff members displayed a positive attitude to research and training. The Civil Design Group attached considerable importance to ensuring a rigorous review of design work undertaken by contractors. This review appears to constitute a second verification. In the Electrical Design Group in BEG(UK)L , the : personal development plans have a 3 to 5 year horizon. This model appears to work well. The quality assurance approach in BEG(UK)L to auditing is to ensure that teams are used to audit areas such as stations and the team composition does not include members from the audited area.
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