Nuclear Safety Case Production

It is a nuclear site licence condition (LC 14) for licensees to implement adequate arrangements for the production and assessment of safety cases justifying safety during all phases of the installation lifecycle i.e., during design, construction, manufacture, commissioning, operation, and decommissioning.

Safety cases are living documentation, that can consist of a single submission or several hundred documents and which must be maintained throughout the lifetime of the installation. Once implemented, they must be regularly reviewed and updated to consider plant modifications, operating experience gained, changes to standards, guidance or regulatory expectation, or learning from external events.

A proportionate approach is applied to safety case development, based on the perceived risk associated with the plant or process in question or the potential consequences if the design or safety case is ill conceived or poorly implemented.

Each licensee develops their own safety management arrangements to define the principles and processes to be applied in the development of safety cases for their sites. The specifics of these principles and processes vary between licensees but are based on a common foundation, demonstrating that the radiological risk has been reduced As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP).